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Co  *B    SO    Mbl 


C\J 

vO 


SOCIALISM 


AS   AN    INCUBUS 


ON    THE 


AMERICAN 


LABOR    MOVEMENT 


BY  J,    \Y.   SULLIVAN 


NEW  YORK 

THE  VOLUNTBKR  PRKSB  PRINT,  38  COOPER  SQUARE 
1909 


Price  50  cents 


SOCIALISM 


AS    AN    INCUBUS 


ON    THE 


AMERICAN 


LABOR    MOVEMENT 


BY  J.   W.   SULLIVAN 


NEW  YORK 

THE  VOLUNTEER  PRESS  PRINT,  38  COOPER  SQUARE 
1909 

Price  50  cents 


GIFT 


WHAT   THE   FACTS    TELL. 


Both  the  story  and  the  argument  in  the  following  pages  are 
embodied  in  testimony.  Facts,  relevant  to  the  case  in  hand,  are 
given  in  their  order  as  to  time.  No  unsupported  statements  have 
been  admitted ;  authority  for  names,  dates,  places,  and  quotations 
is  cited  or  can  be  cited. 

And  what  is  the  outcome  of  story  and  argument  ?  In  a  nut- 
shell, it  is  that  our  working  classes,  through  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor,  have  passed  upon  Socialism  an  adverse  judgment. 
The  compass  of  the  verdict  is  that  Socialism  does  not  to-day  stand 
for  the  convictions  of  the  American  wageworkers  as  "to  what  are 
the  possible  methods  of  either  protecting  or  advancing  their  in- 
terests. In  practical  effect  the  decision  officially  goes  no  further 
than  to  draw  against  the  Socialists  the  lines  essential  to  preserve 
the  trade-union  interpretation  of  the  American  labor  movement. 

It  took  years  of  experience  with  the  pernicious  interferences 
of  the  Socialists  before  the  unionists  reached  their  unfavorable 
judgment  of  Socialism,  and  marked  off  the  sphere  within  union 
operations  in  which  Socialist  policy  and  propaganda  were  no 
longer  to  be  tolerated.  Determined  action  was  taken  only  after 
Socialist  leaders,  within  and  without  unionism,  had  exhausted  the 
patience  of  that  great  majority  of  unionists  who  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  to  have  neither  partisan  politics  nor  Utopian  schemes  of 
any  kind  further  play  their  detrimental  part  in  the  unions.  That 
majority  had  become  convinced  that  while  a  large  percentage  of 
the  industrial  wage-workers  of  the  country  had  learned  the  ad- 
vantages of  unitedly  mastering  their  labor  market,  so  as  to  treat 
on  a  scale  of  increasing  success  with  employers  on  questions  of 
wages,  hours,  and  working  conditions,  similar  agreement  among 
the  employed  classes  on  problems  of  politics,  to  be  settled  through 
party  machinery,  was  impossible  to  be  reached. 

The  reader  will  see  from  these  pages  that,  except  to  make 
clear  the  distinction  between  trade  union  aims  and  Socialist  aims, 
and  to  warn  the  Socialists  off  from  trying  to  divert  trade-unionism 
to  Socialism,  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  not  felt  itself 


as  an  organization  called  upon  to  go  to  any  great  lengths  in  dis- 
cussing or  combating  Socialism.  The  various  anti-Socialist  reso- 
lutions passed  in  the  course  of  years  at  the  Federation  conventions 
have  been  forced  from  the  non-political  union  delegates  ^ through 
the  fanatically  supported  propositions  of  the  Socialist  union  dele- 
gates. SThe  good-natured  tolerance  of  Socialist  oratory  at  union 
meetings  in  general  and  of  Socialist  articles  in  the  union  press  in 
the  earlier  years  of  the  Federation  has  gradually  given  way  to  re- 
striction only  after  a  persistent  and  ungrateful  abuse  of  their  ex- 
ceptional privileges  by  the  Socialists.  But  even  now  the  restric- 
tion has  not  reached  total  inhibition. 

The  generosity  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  toward 
Socialist  unions  and  Socialists  as  individuals^ has  been. almost  ex- 
haustless  under  sore  and  long-continued  trial.  In  the  thirteen 
years  since  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  dropped  out  under 
vexatious  circumstances,  the  American  Federation  not  only  time 
and  again  has  invited  the  'Western  Miners  to  return  but,  as  a  body 
and  through  its  constituent  unions,  has  contributed  sums,  which 
can  be  justly  described  as  enormous,  to  defend  in  the  courts 
Western  members  on  trial  whose  habitual  vituperation  of  Amer- 
ican Federation  leaders  was  a  feature  of  nearly  every  issue  of 
their  magazine,  which  in  turn  drew  its  nourishment  largely  from 
the  appropriations  made  by  American  Federation  unions  to  the 
Western  Miners'  treasury,  for  their  eight-hour  strike  and  the 
legal  defense  of  their  leaders.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor's 
liberal  policy  has  also  been  exhibited  in  sending  Socialist  delegates 
to  the  British  Trade  Union  Congress,  in  several  instances  men 
who  employed  much  of  their  time  in  belittling  true  trade  union- 
ism, which  they  derisively  characterized  as  "pure  and  simple" 
unionism.  ''The  same  characteristic  has  been  seen  in  the  hospital- 
ity without  bounds  extended  to  British  fraternal  delegates  coming 
to  America  with  convictions  that  the  new  British  semi-Socialist  or 
wholly  Socialist  unionism  was  a  marked  advance  on  American 
wage-earners'  conservatism,  some  of  whom,  by  their  deliberate 
expressions  and  associations,  took  pains  to  show  that  they  shared 
the  sentiments  of  the  most  extreme  American  Socialists.  ^ 

The  American  Federation,  in  the  course  of  its  history,  has  at 
times  seemed  to  its  employing-class  critics  bent  on  giving  undue 
support  to  Socialist  promoters  of  disorder  and  violence.  What 
it  has  uniformly  attempted  to  do  in  such  cases  has  been  to  safe- 
guard the  rights  in  the  courts  of  men  who,  however  mistaken  in 


their  views,  and  opposed  to  the  Federation,  have  been  chosen  as 
their  spokesmen  by  one  group  or  another  of  the  laboring  classes. 
It  has  been  a  feature  in  the  play  of  inscrutable  and  unmoral  fate 
that  certain  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  men  have  dealt  the 
American  Federation  the  foulest  blows  it  has  ever  received. 

Xo  one  who  reads  the  evidence  herewith  presented  can  over- 
look the  important  fact  that  the  American  Federation,  both  in  its 
annual  conventions  and  through  its  publications,  has  carried  on 
its  controversies  with  the  Socialists  with  becoming  dignity  and  on 
the  high  plane  of  duty  to  its  members  and  to  the  country  at  large. 
Could  one  read  in  full  all  the  many  scores  of  "hot"  resolutions 
presented  by  the  Socialists  at  the  conventions  and  observe  how 
they  have  been  either  rejected  or  tempered  to  truth  and  discretion, 
or  what  is  more,  redrafted  to  effectiveness,  he  must  infer  that  while 
impassioned  sentiment,  alluring  dreams,  and  unguarded  language 
illustrate  the  Socialist  temperament,  a  sense  of  painstaking  obli- 
gation to  a  sober  cause  is  a  trait  of  unionism.  And  as  to  much 
of  the  editorial  matter  in  Socialist  publications  having  reference 
to  the  most  trusted  leaders  of  the  American  Federation,  its  bill- 
ingsgate has  precluded  any  faith  being  placed  in  its  purport  by 
readers  possessed  of  mental  equipoise 

On  reading  the  accompanying  excerpts  from  editorials  in  the 
"American  Fedcratwnist"  from  the  initiation  of  that  monthly 
magazine  in  1894  to  the  present  day,  and  the  quotations  from  the 
speeches  of  Samuel  Gompers  made  at  conventions  at  various  times 
within  a  quarter  of  a  century,  one  must  perceive  that  the  chief 
of  the  Federation  has  exhibited  foresight,  consistency,  courage 
and  ability  from  the  beginnings  of  the  great  organization.  )  What 
might  have  happened  in  the  United  States  of  America  had  not 
Samuel  Gompers  been  at  the  head  of  its  labor  movement  may  be 
more  than  guessed  at  on  contemplating  what  the  labor  movement 
of  the  world,  inevitable  in  this  era,  has  brought  to  those  great  in- 
dustrial countries  of  Europe  where  it  has  turned  to  Socialism. 
On  the  Continent  political  Socialism,  whose  economic  improve- 
ments in  government  are  questionable,  has  but  little  affected  the 
wage  level  of  the  masses  for  the  better,  society  meantime  con- 
stantly unsettled  by  violent  political  agitation.  In  Great  Britain, 
it  is  undeniable  that  the  trade  union  movement  has  suffered  by  a 
paralyzing  of  organization  as  the  political  Socialist  movement 
has  advanced.  In  this  country,  wherever  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  has  been  dominant  in  labor  organization,  there  have 


been,  on  the  whole,  increase  in  wages,  a  shortening  of  the  work- 
day, a  betterment  in  work-place  conditions,  a  disappearance  of 
child  labor,  better  protection  to  working  women,  the  promotion  of 
such  widespread  helps  to  social  peace  as  the  trade  agreement,  the 
effective  institution  of  numerous  needed  labor  laws — direct  results 
of  an  American  policy  for  organized  American  labor.  Among  the 
phalanx  of  labor  leaders,  truly  so  designated,  who  have  thought 
out  and  built  up  this  policy,  and  steadily  adhered  to  it,  none  has 
been  more  faithful  or  competent  than  the  President  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation.  When  one  has  read  some  little  part,  herewith 
printed,  of  the  volumes  of  fierce  denunciation  directed  at  him  by 
the  Socialists,  the  feeling  must  arise  that  at  least  a  few  words  are 
due  him  regarding  his  proven  worth.  It  is  to  be  noted,  with 
equal  satisfaction  to  Americans,  that  neither  the  international 
union  executives  as  a  body  nor  the  railroad  brotherhood  leaders 
have  found  anything  to  emulate  in  ,the  career  of  one  of  their 
former  colleagues  who  in  the  last  fifteen  years  has  repeatedly 
proved  himself  a  harbinger  of  disruption,  disorder,  and  failure  in 
ill-considered  widespread  labor  upheavals. 

The  actual  loss  to  the  American  labor  movement  through  car- 
rying the  burden  put  on  it  the  last  twenty  years  by  the  Socialists 
is  incalculable.  With  the  individual  member  the  loss  has  begun 
when,  usually  in  his  youth,  he  learned  to  disparage  unionism 
by  hearkening  to  the  Socialist  stock  argument :  "Why  lose  time 
with  such  palliatives  as  better  wages  and  a  shorter  workday  when 
it  is  possible  for  the  ninety  per  cent  in  society,  the  disinherited,  to 
overthrow  at  the  ballot  box  the  whole  capitalist  system  maintained 
by  the  ten  per  cent,  the  privileged?"  With  the  labor  organization, 
the  loss  has  begun  when  allured  from  the  accepted  orderly  union 
methods  to  the  vicious  circle  of  Socialist  agitation — sentimental 
outbursts  against  working-class  miseries,  headlong  strike,  curb- 
stone haranguing,  tem-porary  political  alliance  with  all  sorts  of 
unstable  malcontents,  sanguine  hopes  for  election  day  followed  by 
deplorable  or  ludicrous  results,  loss  meantime  of  the  advantages 
to  be  gained  through  steady-going  unionism,  to  arrive  in  the  end 
at  the  original  level  of  occupational  distress.  Individuals  by.  the 
tens  of  thousands  and  local  and  central  labor  unions  by  the  scores, 
and  even  several  international  unions,  have  in  America  taken 
years  to  pass  through  this  experience  before  settling  back  to  the 
regular  trade  union  policies.  A  writer  in  the  May,  1909,  Inter- 
national "Cigar  Makers'  Official  Journal,"  well  describes  from 


his  experience  as  a  veteran  observer  the  Socialist  work  of  sapping 
and  mining  trade  unionism,  concluding  with  his  estimate  of  the 
resultant  union  loss  in  numerical  force :  "The  Socialist  propa- 
ganda, its  vile  tactics,  and  its  unscrupulous  tacticians,  cause  much 
mischief  in  the  trade  unions.  .  .  .  Their  favorite  method  is 
to  point  the  ringer  of  suspicion  at  any  and  every  one  who  does  not 
agree  with  their  hare  brained  ideas.  Tried,  true,  and  able  vet- 
eran officials,  such  as  Gompers,  Mitchell,  Morrison,  Perkins  and 
Strasser,  etc.,  are  denounced  and  maligned  as  fakirs,  rogues,  and 
grafters.  .  .  .  We  are  further  told  that  to  raise  wages,  lower 
the  hours  of  labor,  etc.,  are  mere  palliatives,  a  plaster  as  it  were 
to  cover  up  a  rotten  .ulcer;  that  it  is  equivalent  to  a  man's  effort 
to  raise  himself  by  his  bootstraps.  Trade  unions,  strikes,  boy- 
cotts, etc.,  they  say,  are  no  good  and  of  no  permanent  value,  ex- 
cept as  a  means  of  agitation,  or  to  keep  the  pot  of  social  unrest 
and  discontent  ever  at  the  boiling  point,  thus  fanning  the  embers 
of  revolution.  .  .  .  How  can  the  weakling,  the  lukewarm 
member,  the  new  recruit,  draw  any  cheerful  inspiration,  or  cour- 
ageous resolve  when  such  a  mass  of  senseless  contradictions  and 
inconsistencies  are  constantly  dinned  into  his  ears  ?  How  can  they 
retain  a  happy  frame  of  mind  when  they  see  the  mean  factional 
wrangle  going  on  for  the  mastery?  How  can  they  be  rilled  with 
^anything  but  disgust  and  inaction,  when  they  see  our  oldest  and 
best  officials  insulted  and  slandered,  and  their  character  drawn 
into  the  mire?  Thus  many  of  the  newer  additions  to  our  ranks 
are  turned  adrit  and  become  pessimists  and  lost  to  the  cause. 
This  is  the  damage  wrought  by  Socialist  philosophy,  and  its  tac- 
tics, in  the  trade  union  movement.  Were  it  not  for  this  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  would  to-day  number  three  million 
members  instead  of  only  two  million." 

The  story  of  the  Socialist  attempts  to  destroy  American  union- 
ism as  it  has  developed  divides  itself  naturally  into  two  parts — 
what  was  attempted  by  Socialist  delegates  in  the  unions,  and  what 
was  attempted  through  seeking  to  drag, the  unions  into  the  political 
and  industrial  Socialist  movements.  Two  strategic  policies  were 
simultaneously  followed,  ''boring  from  within"  and  "assaulting 
from  without."  It  is  to  be  remembered,  while  reading  what  fol- 
lows, that  only  the  facts  as  relating  to  the  American  Federation  as 
a  whole  are  touched  upon.  The  same  contest  has  been  witnessed 
at  one  time  or  another  in  all  the  hundred  and  odd  international 
unions,  in  the  railroad  brotherhoods,  in  the  hundreds  of  central 


8 

labor  unions,  and  in  the  thousands  of  local  unions  of  the  Federa- 
tion. 

This  description  of  cutting  the  tentacles  of  the  Socialist  octopus 
from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  really  all  too  brief. 
At  the  headquarters-  of  the  Federation  in  Washington  is  inter- 
esting documentary  evidence  similar  to  that  quoted  sufficient  to  fill 
hundreds  of  pages.  But  surely  enough  is  to  be  found  in  this  little 
volume  to  stagger  honest  union  men  in  the  ranks  of  Socialism,  to 
put  true  union  men  everywhere  completely  on  their  guard,  and  to 
make  manifest  to  the  American  public  the  value  of  trade  unionism 
to  our  country. 


BORING  FROM   WITHIN. 


The  first  battle  royal  in  a  convention  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  between  the  defenders  of  the  established  trade  union 
policy  of  the  American  wage-earners  organized  by  trades  or  call- 
ings and  the  advocates  of  substituting  for  that  policy  the  European 
system  of  an  industrial  unionism  secondary  to  the  political  aims 
of  a  Socialist  Labor  Party  took  place  at  Detroit  in  1890,  at  the 
tenth  annual  convention.  On  both  sides  the  preparations  for  the 
contest  had  been  lively  during  the  six  months  previous.  The  Social- 
ists throughout  the  country  had  strained  every  nerve  to  send  to  the 
convention  union  delegates  who  were  also  Socialists.  The  Social- 
ist newspapers  and  the  craft  organs  of  the  two  or  three  national 
unions  having  socialist  majorities  had  without  cease  made  clam- 
orous appeals  to  the  organized  workingmen  to  extend  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Federation  into  the  political  field  and  take  up  with  the 
platform  of  the  Socialists. 

The  question  on  which  the  debate  turned  at  the  convention  was 
on  the  acceptance  of  credentials  presented  by  Lucien  Sanial,  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Socialist  "Volks-zcitung,"  as  a  delegate,  with 
one  vote,  from  the  Central  Labor  Federation  of  New  York  City. 
Much  of  the  time  and  most  of  the  interest  of  the  first  and  second 
days'  sessions  were  taken  up  by  speeches  on  the  subject. 

To  the  trade  unionists  who  were  opposed  to  the  Socialist  pol- 
icy the  question  was  simple.  From  the  first  meeting  in  1881  the 
rule  had  been  followed  by  conventions  not  to  indorse  candidates 
of  any  party  by  name  and  not  to  admit  to  the  convention  dele- 
gates representing  political  parties,  but  to  make  the  general  re- 
commendation that  unionists  as  individuals  should  everywhere  vote 
for  such  candidates  of  any  party  as  had  performed  noteworthy 
service  for  the  cause  of  labor.  No  attempt  to  deviate  from  this 
custom  is  to  be  found  in  convention  records  until,  in  1884  (pages 
17-18  "Proceedings"),  a  resolution  was  presented  by  R.  Powers, 
of  the  International  Seamen's  Union,  recommending  by  name  a 
member  of  Congress  for  re-electiori  "as  a  faithful  representative 
of  the  working  class."  The  following  substitute,  offered  by 


IO 

Delegate  Henry  Askew,  was  adopted :  "We  deem  it  the  im- 
perative duty  of  every  trade  unionist  and  wageworker  in 
North  America  to  work  and  vote  for  candidates  for  legisla- 
tive honors  who  have  proved  themselves  true  friends  to  the 
cause  of  organized  labor."  In  1885,  Henry  Emrich  and. Ernst 
Bauer,  Socialists  representing  the  Furniture  Workers'  Inter- 
national Union,  introduced,  with  a  long  socialistic  preamble,  a 
resolution  (pages  17-18),  calling  for  "a  strict  workingman's 
party,"  to  elect  candidates  "not  affiliated  with  capitalistic  parties." 
By  recommendation  of  the  Committee  the  resolution  was  not  con- 
curred in.  In  1887,  Delegate  Emrich  again  proposed  "political 
action,"  (Resolution  14,  pages  19,  30)  as  did  also  Edward  Finkel- 
stone,  Journeymen  Bakers'  National  Union  (R.  22,  p.  20).  But 
neither  resolution  was  reported  back  to  the  convention  by  the 
committee.  In  1888,  President  Gompers  in  his  annual  report 
stated  to  the  members  that  a  proposal  to  form  a  third  party, 
which  he  had  been  informed  was  to  be  brought  forward,  would,  in 
his  judgment,  be  "extremely  unwise."  In  1889,  a  resolution 
introduced  at  the  request  of  the  Central  Labor  Federation  of  New 
York  recommending  "the  formation  of  a  Political  Labor  Party" 
acting  "in  conjunction  with  the  Knights  of  Labor"  was  rejected. 
Mr.  Sanial,  on  being  given  the  privilege  of  the  floor  at  the 
Detroit  convention  in  1890,  made  a  long  argument,  the  gist  of 
which  was  that  "the  Socialist  Labor  Party  was  not  a  political 
party  as  understood  by  workingmen,  hence  ought  to  be  admitted 
in  a  central  body  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor."  Dele- 
gate T.  J.  Morgan,  representing  the  Trades  Assembly  of  Chicago, 
moved  that  Mr.  Sanial  be  admitted,  but  subsequently  offered  an 
amendment  to  further  motions  that  the  subject  be  referred  to  a 
special  committee  of  five.  The  next  day  this  committee — W.  J. 
Shields,  John  B.  Lennon,  W.  J.  Cannon,  Frank  L.  Rist,  and  Frank 
Foster,  men  of  the  foremost  rank  in  the  labor  movement — re- 
ported recommending  that  the  credentials  of  Lucien  Sanial  be 
returned,  sayii^s  "We  cannot  logically  admit  the  Socalist  Labor 
Party  to  representation  and  shut  the  door  in  the  face  of  other 
political  organizations  formed  to  achieve  social  progress."  And 
further:  "The  delegates  to  this  contention,  while  declining  to 
admit  representatives  of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  as  a  political 
party,  declare  themselves  tolerant  of  all  phases  of  the  reform 
movement  and  would  debar  no  delegate  as  an  individual  because 
of  his  belief,  whether  radical  or  conservative." 


II 

Delegate  Morgan  now  moved  that  the  special  committee's 
report,  together  with  the  statements  of  Mr.  Sanial  and  President 
Gompers,  be  referred  to  the  organizations  represented  in  the  con- 
vention, so  that  delegates  to  the  next  annual  convention  might  be 
instructed  as  to  their  action  on  the  subject. 

At  the  afternoon  session,  President  Gompers  reviewed  the 
question  at  length.  The  main  point,  that  of  admitting  a  Socialist 
Party  delegate  to  an  American  Federation  of  Labor  convention, 
had  been  somewhat  complicated  with  a  contest  over  charters  be- 
tween the  two  antagonistic  local  central  organizations  in  New 
York — the  Central  Labor*  Federation,  and  the  Central  Labor 
Union.  When  the  "C.  L.  F."  had  applied  for  a  new  charter,  in 
consequence  of  a  decision  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
Mr.  Gompers  had  refused  to  grant  it,  as  in  the  list  of  organizations 
making  the  application  was  the  American  Section  of  the  "Socialist 
Labor  Party/'  Mr.  Gompers  commented  on  the  "acrimony 
brought  into  the  discussion  by  the  parties  claiming  admission  pub- 
lishing scandalous  and  false  statements  through  the* press."  He 
traced  the  differences  between  the  development  of  the  political 
workingmen's  movement  of  Continental  Europe  and  the  trade 
union  movement  of  America,  and  said  -that  the  methods  of  the 
trade  unions  and  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  were  inherently  dif- 
ferent. 

At  the  close  of  the  afternoon's  debate,  (see  digest,  pages  23, 
24,  25,  and  26,  "Proceedings",)  the  Socialist  members  having 
been  heard  at  great  length,  the  convention  adopted  the  special  com- 
mittee's recommendation  not  to  seat  Mr.  Sanial — Yeas,  i,.S74 
votes;  nays,  496.,  (484  of  which  were:  335  from  the  United  Mine 
Workers,  42  cast  by  Richard  Braunschweig  of  the  Furniture 
Workers.  30  by  August  Delabar  of  the  Bakers,  17  by  Ernest 
Bohm  of  the  Brewers,  60  by  J.  S.  Kirchner  of  the  Cigarmakers.) 
Socialist  delegates  with  one  vote,  representing  central  labor 
unions,  several  of  whom  participated  in  debate,  were  T.  J.  Mor- 
gan (Chicago  Trades  Assembly)  ;  Reidel  (Sheboygan,  Wis.)  ; 
WTiener  (New  York  German  Waiters)  ;  Brocken  (Columbus 
O.,  Lathers)  ;  Waldinger  (New  York  United  Machinists);  Rea 
(Pittsburg  Musical  Mutual  Protective  LTnion)  ;  Lewis  (Chicago 
Waiters);  De  Yaux  (St.  Louis  Trade  and  Labor  Assembly): 
and  Whalen  (Toledo  Willow,  Reed  and  Rattan  Workers)  ;  with 
also  Clavey  (Cleveland  Wire  Drawers  and  Die  Makers,  two 


12 

votes).     Several  Socialist  delegates,  each  representing  one  vote, 
refrained  from  voting. 

Thus,  aside  from  the  miners'  delegates,  whose  vote  against 
President  Gompers'  decision  arose  from  causes  recognized  at  the 
time  as  not  being  pertinent  to  the  question  under  debate,  the  vote 
for  the  Socialist  cause  came  from  the  three  national  unions  then 
avowedly  Socialist,  together  with  the  one  delegate  assuming  to 
speak  for  the  Socialists  in  the  Cigarmakers'  Union,  and  the 
one-vote  Socialist  orators  elected  by  central  bodies  after  infinite 
pains  and  planning  and  wire  pulling  all  over  the  country  by 
members  of  the  Socialist  party. 

Among  the  significant  events  which  followed  at  the  convention 
was  the  defeat  of  a  series  of  separate  socialistic  resolutions  that 
had  been  introduced  by  Delegate  Braunschweig  early  in  the  ses- 
sion (page  27),  and  the  election  of  Samuel  Gompers  as  President 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  for  the  ensuing  year 
over  T.  J.  Morgan,  Socialist,  by  1,716  votes  to  194,  the  miners' 
voting  for  jVJr.  Gompers. 

In  speaking  of  the  action  of  the  Detroit  convention  in  1890, 
Mr.  Gompers  said: 

"If  I  were  to  issue  a  charter  to  the  Central  Labor  Federation 
of  Xew  York,  I  could  vouchsafe  for  myself  peace  of  mind  and 
the  avoidance  of  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  but  it  would  mean  the 
capture  of  the  trade  union  movement  by  the  Socialist  party.  That 
would  be  the  end  of  trade  union  efficiency  in  the  cause  of  the 
workers  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  By  the  refusal  to  issue  I 
am  inviting  endless  trouble,  but  the  trade  union  movement  will 
be  saved.  In  the  face  of  this  situation  I  have  no  other  choice  but 
duty." 

For  several  years  after  their  defeat  at  Detroit  in  1890  the 
Socialists  manifested  little  disposition  to  measure  their  strength 
seriously  with  the  true  trade  unionists  in  the  annual  conventions. 

In  his  report  in  1891,  at  Birmingham,  President  Gompers 
stated  that  whereas  some  had  during  the  year  "pretended  to  say 
that  the  Federation  had  declared  against  political  action  by  the 
working  people,"  "the  affiliated  unions  are  guaranteed  autonomy 
and  independence."  "What  the  convention  declared  was  that  a 
political  party,  as  a  party,  known  by  any  name,  had  no  right  to 
representation  in  the  trade  union  councils."  On  the  occasion  of 
his  re-election,  toward  the  close  of  the  convention,  Mr,  Gompers 


IB 

polling  1,378  votes,  the  Socialists  cast  120  votes  for  their  can- 
didate Delegate  Delabar,  though  he  had  declined  the  nomination. 

In  1892,  at  Philadelphia,  President  Gompers,  referring  in  his 
annual  report  to  the  agitation  for  partisan  political  action,  wrote : 

"\Ye  are  frequently  urged  to  strike  out  for  another  path,  to 
take  some  radical  action  and  to  make  greater  progress.  In  an- 
swer to  this  stands  the  unalterable  fact  that  the  representatives  of 
the  trade  unions  coming  from  direct  daily  contact  with  the  toilers 
of  our  country  are  best  qualified  to  voice  their  sentiments,  formu- 
late their  demands  and  declare  their  hopes.  That  it  would  be  an 
injury  to  their  interests  if  we  who  are  at  the  head  of  the  affairs  of 
their  organization  were  to  drift  it  too  far  ahead  and  thus  create 
a  yawning  gap  between  us  and  the  rank  and  file,  none  will  deny. 
It  is  one  thing  to  declare  for  a  principle,  it  is  another  to  achieve 
it ;  and  after  all  we  must  admit  that  our  efforts  will  assuredly 
prove  futile  without  the  co-operation  and  good  will  of  the  masses 
of  labor." 

But  T.  J.  Morgan,  this  year  representing  the  Machinists'  In- 
ternational Union,  introduced  a  resolution  demanding  "that  all 
ireans  of  communication  and  transportation  and  means  of  produc- 
tion be  owned  and  controlled  by  the  government/'  It  received 
559  votes  as  against  1,615.  Another  resolution  by  Mr.  Morgan 
(  Xo.  38,  page  45)  recommending  the  political  education  of  the 
working  people,  so  that  legislative"  bodies  mis'ht  be  filled  with  rep- 
resentatives of  labor  "instead  of  as  now  with  the  pliant  tools  of 
monopoly,"  was  set  aside  and  the  declaration  made  "that  partisan 
politics  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  business  of  trade 
unions." 

In  1893,  at  Chicago,  the  Socialists  prepared  the  way  for  their 
great  onslaught  on  true  trade  unionism  at  Denver  in  1894  with 
their  famous  "Plank  Ten."  President  Gompers  in  his  1893  re- 
port recommended :  "Let  us  never  be  recreant  to  our  trust,  and, 
regardless  of  political  ? filiations  or  predilections,  always  vote 
against  those  who  are  inimical  to  the  interest  of  labor."  But 
greetings  in  a  comrrunicaton  to  the  Chicago  convention  from 
Eugene  V.  Debs,  as  head  of  the  recently  organized  American 
Railway  Union,  were  received  by  the  Socialist  members  in  a 
manner  that  indicated  a  renewed  enthusiasm.  T.  J.  Morgan  in- 
troduced several  resolutions  either  Socialist  or  of  a  socialistic  ten- 
dency (  Xos.  5 3.  5-L  55.  56).  Xo.  $-*,  as  it  came  amended  from 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  was  a  recommendation  to  the  labor 


14 

organizations  of  America  for  the  "favorable  consideration"  of  a 
political  programme  containing  eleven'  propositions.  Among  these 
"Plank  Ten"  was:  "The  collective  ownership  by  the  people  of 
all  means  of  production  and  distribution."  The  entire  scheme, 
as  averred  in  the  introductory  paragraphs,  was  in  imitation  of 
the  methods  of  those  British  trade  unionists  who  within  a  few 
years  had  entered  the  field  of  Socialist  labor  politics.  After 
much  debate  the  previous  question  was  called  on  the  word  "favor- 
able" in  the  committee's  substitute  for  Delegate  Morgan's  resolu- 
tion by  a  vote  of  1,253  to  1,182.  The  final  vote  was  2,244  to  67 
on  the  submission  of  the  programme  to  the  consideration  of  the 
unions  in  the  federation,  with  the  omission  of  the  word  "favor- 
able." 

In  1894,  at  the  opening  of  the  Denver  Convention,  President 
Gompers,  in  referring  to  "the  programme,"  said  that  its  submis- 
sion "was  largely  accepted  by  the  membership  as  an  indorsement 
of  it  by  the  Federation."  "A  number  of  the  demands  contained 
in  that  programme,"  he  continued,  "have  been  promulgated  in 
almost  every  trade  union  in  the  world,  but  deftly  dovetailed  and 
almost  hidden  there  is  one  declaration  [Plank  Ten]  which  is  not 
only  controversial  but  decidedly  theoretical,  and  which  even  if 
founded  on  economic  truth  is  not  demonstrable,  and  so  remote 
as  to  place  ourselves  and  our  movement  in  an  unenviable  light 
before  our  fellow  workers,  and  which,  if  our  organization  is  com- 
mitted to  it  will  unquestionably  prevent  many  sterling  national 
trade  unions  from  joining  our  ranks  to  do  battle  with  us  to  attain 
first  things  first."  Further:  "During  the  past  year  the  trade 
unions  in  many  localities  plunged  into  the  political  arena  by  nom- 
inating their  candidates  for  public  office,  and,  sad  as  it  may  be  to 
record,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  in  each  one  of  these  localities 
politically  they  are  defeated  and  the  trade  union  movement  more 
or  less  divided  and  disrupted." 

What  the  Socialists  had  been  doing  during  the  intervening 
year  Mr.  Gompers'  words  but  mildly  described.  Their  orators 
and  newspapers  had  worked  zealously  to  convince  the  industrial 
wage-earning  masses  of  the  country  that  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  had  turned  to  Socialism  in  considering  Plank  Ten. 
President  Gompers,  as  the  most  conspicuous  obstructionist  to  their 
aims,  had  been  the  shining  mark  of  their  indignation.  Wherever 
possible  they  had  nominated  Socialist  party  candidates  for  office. 
It  had  been  a  year  of  wild  hope,  ceaseless  campaigning,  bitter 


denunciation  of  "pure  and  simple"  unionism,  and  sanguine 
prophecies  for  the  new  economic  era,  perhaps  close  at  hand. 

The  programme,  Plank  Ten  taking  up  most  of  the  argument, 
by  far  outstripped  in  interest  any  other  of  the  proceedings  at  the 
Denver  convention.  The  debates  relating  to  it  took  up  the 
greater  part  of  two  days'  sessions.  For  five  days  the  delegates 
when  not  in  session  were  excitedly  discussing  it  every  waking 
hour.  In  the  convention  hall  the  debate  proceeded  amid  various 
manifestations  of  excitement. 

The  other  propositions  of  the  programme  having  been  adopt- 
ed, Plank  Ten,  by  a  vote  of  1,217  to  9:3-  went  down  before  a 
substitute,  offered  on  behalf  of  the  International  Typographical 
Union,  which  read:  "The  abolition  of  the  monopoly  system  of 
landholding  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  title  of  occupancy 
and  use  only.'' 

But  the  Socialists  had  their  revenge  on  the  spot,  both  in  the 
joy  of  spectacularly  manifesting  their  enthusiasm  over  what 
planks  had  been  adopted  and  in  engineering  the  defeat  for  re- 
election of  Mr.  Gompers  to  the  Presidency  for  the  ensuing  year. 

A  great  Socialist  meeting  was  held  in  one  of  the  largest  halls 
in  Denver,  at  which  Mr.  Gompers  was  hotly  denounced.  An  im- 
pressive telegram  from  Eugene  V.  Debs  relative  to  his  six  months' 
imprisonment  was  read  before  the  convention  and  $250  was  ap- 
propriated for  his  defense  fund.  A  grievance  of  the  Hotel  and 
Restaurant  Employes'  Alliance  against  Mr.  Gompers  for  not 
hiring  members  of  that  body  instead  of  another  union  for  a 
dinner  to  the  British  delegates  at  Clarendon  Hall,  New  York, 
was  presented,  only,  however,  to  meet  dismissal.  John  Burns, 
fraternal  delegate,  at  that  time  a  Socialist  apostle,  was  put  for- 
ward several  times  a  day  at  various  places  in  the-  city  to  voice  the 
advanced  socialistic  demands  of  his  then  radical  wing  of  trade 
unions  in  Great  Britain.  Divers  ingenious  means  were  employed 
by  the  Socialists  to  bring  the  opinion  to  prevail  among  the  dele- 
gates that  the  conservative  cast  of  Mr,  Gompers'  mind  unfitted 
him  to  lead  in  an  epoch  big  with  the  coming  miracles,  through 
collectivity,  for  labor's  uplifting. 

By  a  combination  of  the  Socialists,  the  miners,  and  some  of  the 
western  delegates,  the  headquarters  of  the  Federation  were  re- 
moved from  New  York  ("Mr.  Gompers'  home  city)  to  Indian- 
apolis, and,  by  a  vote  of  1,170  to  976,  John  McBride,  of  the 
miners,  was  elected  President  for  the  ensuing  year  over  Samuel 


i6 

Gompers — the  single  occasion  in  all  the  years,  before  or  since, 
that  Mr.  Gompers  has  failed  of  re-election.  The  names  of  dele- 
gates as  printed  in  the  roll  calls  in  the  "Proceedings"  show  the 
grouping  of  the  Socialists  with  the  other  members  of  the  anti- 
Gompers  coalition.  Mahlon  Barnes,  who  was  the  Socialist  candi- 
date for  Secretary,  made  a  deal  with  a  miner  delegate  by  which 
the  Socialist  contingent  was  to  vote  for  John  McRride  in  return 
for  the  miner  delegation's  vote  for  Barnes.  The  result  of  the 
polling  disclosed  the  fact  that  four  miner  delegates  had  made  the 
same  deal  with  the  four  separate  candidates  for  Secretary,  thus 
gathering  in  enough  votes  to  elect  Mr.  McBride  President !  At 
this  convention,  for  the  first  time,  fraternal  delegates,  two  in  num- 
ber, were  elected  to  the  British  Trade  Union  Congress.  Mr. 
Gompers  was  elected  as  the  premier  unanimously,  and  attended 
the  congress  at  Cardiff. 

In  1895,  the  convention  being  held  in  New  York  in  December, 
Samuel  Gompers,  as  one  of  the  two  fraternal  delegates  to  the 
British  Trade  Union  Congress  at  Cardiff  in  the  previous  Sep- 
tember, called  attention  to  the  following  declaration  there  made : 
"This  Congress  is  prepared  to  support  candidates  who  are  adopt- 
ed by  and  receiving  support  from  the  political  parties — either 
Liberal,  Conservative,  Nationalist,  or  Unionist,"  etc.  Much  time 
during  two  sessions  was  taken  up  in  discussing  Delegate  J.  Mah- 
lon Barnes'  resolution  (No.  98)  :  That  it  is  as  clearly  the  duty  of 
union  workingmen  to  organize  and  maintain!  a  political  party 
devoted  exclusively  to  their  own  interests  as  to  organize  in  trade 
and  labor  unions."  The  following  was  substituted  by  the  dele- 
gates :  "This  Convention  declares  that  party  politics,  whether 
they  be  Democratic,  Republican,  Socialistic,  Populistic,  Pro- 
hibition, or  any  other,  should  have  no  place  in  the  conventions  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor."  Mr.  Gompers  was  elected 
President. 

In  1896,  at  Cincinnati,  no  prominent  Socialists  were  delegates, 
but  in  1897,  at  Nashville,  Mr.  Gompers  in  his  annual  report  called 
attention  to  an  effort  being  made  to  divide  the  labor  movement 
on  geographical  lines.  He  referred  to  the  movement  which  for 
several  years  afterward  was  carried  on  under  the  title  of  the 
Western  Federation  of  Labor,  with  a  Socialist  platform.  Dele- 
gate Ernst  KrefL  representing  the  Philadelphia  United  Labor 
League,  with  one  vote,  offered  a  resolution  declaring  for  "the 
entire  abolition  of  the  wage  system  and  for  the  collective  owner- 


17 

ship  of  all  the  means  of  production  and  distribution."  This  was 
defeated.  Mr.  Kreft,  representing  the  Socialists,  received  as  can- 
didate for  President  407  votes  to  Mr.  Gompers'  1,858. 

In  1898,  at  Kansas  City,  President  Gompers  in  his  report  made 
note  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  Five  Socialist  propo- 
sitions were  introduced,  Nos.  I,  6,  33,  52,  and  78  (Page  104, 
"Proceedings").  All  were  heralded  by  voluminous  preambles. 
No.  i  called  for  a  "class-conscious  propaganda  for  abolition  of  the 
wage  system :"  Xo.  6  for  "moral  and  financial  support  to  the 
vSocialist  Labor  Party ;"  No.  33  for  "independent  political  action 
on  a  purely  labor  platform ;"  Xo.  52  for  the  "abolition  of  wage 
slavery"  through  joining  "the  Social  Democratic  party;1'  and  No. 
78  for  the  relief  of  "the  masses  from  the  sordid  grasp  of  a  relent- 
less and  soulless  despotism — a  despotism  that  enthralls  labor,  that 
prostitutes  government,  defies  justice,  and  robs  the  people."  The 
Committee  on  Laws,  in  reporting  these  resolutions  adversely,  said 
that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  "committed  against 
the  indorsement  of,  or  introduction  of,  partisan  politics."  The 
Socialist  supporters  of  the  resolutions  polled  493  votes  as  against 
1,971.  In  the  "Proceedings"  (page  no)  is  this  paragraph: 
"The  discussion  of  this  question  began  at  2.21  Friday  afternoon, 
continued  until  5.35  p.  rr..,  was  resumed  at  9.12  Saturday,  and  con- 
tinued until  12.25,  when  the  yea  and  nay  vote  was  taken.  Twen- 
ty-seven delegates  made  speeches  on  the  question."  Mr.  Max 
Hayes  made  here  his  first  appearance  as  a  delegate. 

In  1899,  at  Detroit,  Max  Hayes,  representing  the  Cleveland 
Central  Labor  Union,  with  one  vote,  moved  (Resolution  89,  page 
73)  "that  the  various  central  and  local  bodies  of  labor  in  the 
United  States  take  steps  to  use  their  ballots,  their  political  power, 
on  independent  lines  from  the  capitalistic  parties,"  etc.  The 
convention,  on  report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  amended 
the  passage  so  as  to  recommend  observing,  as  to  the  ballot,  "the 
declaration  of  principles  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor." 
In  another  resolution,  with  a  fiery  preamble,  (90)  Max  Hayes 
called  upon  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  to  "emphatically 
condemn  and  denounce  President  McKinley,  Governor  Steunen- 
berg  and  all  the  officials  concerned  in  the  outrage"  in  Idaho. 
The  committee  struck  out  from  the  resolution  the  names  of  the 
President  and  the  Governor,  and  reduced  the  preamble  to  a  sim- 


i8 

pie  and  dignified  form,  and  the  convention  adopted  its  substitute. 
This  year  Mr.  Gompers  was  re-elected  without  opposition. 

In  1900,  at  Louisville,  Max  Hayes  was  early  on  hand  with 
Resolution  No.  4,  an  amendment  to  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  Constitution,  calling  for  "a  class-conscious  political  labor 
party,  thus  combining  the  industrial  and  political  power  of  the 
working  class  with  a  view  of  abolishing  the  wage  system."  This 
he  withdrew.  Four  other  Socialist  resolutions  were  introduced, 
Nos.  100,  114,  215,  and  219,  one  of  them  by  Delegate  Hayes. 
They  took  up  time  on  the  sixth  and  seventh  days  of  the  convention. 
The  Committee  on  Resolutions  reported  on  them  adversely:  "It 
is  not  within  the  constitutional  or  any  other  power  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor  to  legislate,  resolve  or  specify  to  which 
political  party  members  of  our  unions  shall  belong  or  for  what 
party  they  shall  vote."  ;On  a  vote  of  4,169  to  685  the  committee's 
substitute  was  adopted.  Mr.  Gompers  was  re-elected  unanimously. 

In  IQOI,  at  Scranton,  Max  Hayes,  with  one  vote,  proposed 
an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  by  which  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer  should  be  elected 
by  the  referendum.  Defeated.  A  resolution  supported  by  Delegate 
Barnes  and  other  Socialists  instructing  "all  affiliated  bodies  to 
hold  absolutely  aloof  from  all  connection  with  the  militia,"  was 
laid  on  the  table. 

In  1902,  at  New  Orleans,  Max  Hayes,  this  year  one  of  the 
four  delegates  of  the  International  Typographical  Union,  pro- 
posed (Resolution  149,  page  220,  "Proceedings")  "that  a  charter 
be  granted  to  the  Laborers'  International  Protective  Union  of 
America."  Unfavorably  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Organi- 
zation, this  resolution  was  rejected  by  the  convention.  This 
laborers'  union  was  organized  on  the  "industrial"  system,  as 
favored  by  the  Socialists.  The  various  Socialist  resolutions  (Nos. 
80,  134,  161,  162,  163,  180,  and  187)  were  adversely  reported  in 
bulk  by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  (Page  178  "Proceedings"). 
"All  of  the  resolutions  in  question  have  political  action  as  their 
expressed  or  implied  purpose,"  reported  the  committee.  "Some 
of  them  shrewdly  designate  their  purpose  under  guise  of  'study 
of  political  action.' '  Mr.  Hayes  in  a  substitute  for  the  commit- 
tee's report  called  for  "the_overthrowal_pf  the  wage  system  and 
the  establishment  of  an  industrial  co-operative  commonwealth." 


considefarjle    part    of    two    days'    sessions,    with    numerous 
speeches,  were  required  to  dispose  of  the  question.     An  amend- 


19 

mont  offered  by  Delegate  Win.  B.  Wilson,  Secretary  of  tbe 
I'nitecl  Mine  Workers,  to  omit  all  after  the  word  "toil"  in  Max  S. 
Haves'  amendment  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  140  delegates  rep- 
resenting 4,897  votes  to  90  delegates  representing  4,171  votes. 
Mr.  Wilson's  amendment  to  the  Hayes  amendment  made  the 
latter  read :  "Resolved,  that  the  twenty-second  annual  convention 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  advises  the  working  people 
to  organize  their  economic  and  political  power  to  secure  for  labor 
the  futl  equivalent  of  its  toil."  The  miners  cast  their  1.854  votes 
for  Mr.  Wilson's  amendment.  The  sensational  and  Socialist 
press  thereupon  reported  that  "the  miners  had  gone  Socialist." 
The  anti- Socialists  asserted  that,  so  far  from  this  being  the  truth, 
Mr.  Wilson's  amendment  being  an  anti-Hayes  motion  was  anti- 
Socialist.  Not  one  of  the  seven  socialistic  resolutions  in  question 
was  introduced  by  authority  of  an  international  union.  Four  of 
them  came  from  Victor  L.  Berger,  editor  of  the  "Social  Demo- 
cratic Herald,"  of  Milwaukee  (one  vote)  and  J.  Mahlon  Barnes. 

In  1903,  at  Boston,  eleven  socialistic  resolutions,  nearly  all  of 
them  introduced  by  one-vote  delegates  and  none  authorized  by  the 
international  unions,  except,  perhaps,  two  by  the  Cloth  Cap  and 
Hat  Makers  (with  25  votes),  were  reported  in  one  batch  un- 
favorably by  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  After  a  debate  tak- 
ing up  more  than  a  full  day's  session — fourteen  hours,  reports  the 
editor  of  the  "Coopers'  Journal" — the  vote  of  the  convention  sup- 
ported the  committee  —  Anti-Socialist,  11,282;  Pro-Socialist, 
2,147.  The  leading  speakers  in  the  debate  and  managers  on  the 
floor  for  the  Socialists  were  Max  S.  Hayes,  J.  Mahlon  Barnes, 
and  Ernest  Kreft.  Mr.  Gompers  was  re-elected  (12,449  votes) 
over  Delegate  Kreft  (1,236  votes).  Extracts  from  Mr.  Gom- 
pers' speech  on  the  occasion,  which  attracted  »the  attention  of  all 
classes  in  the  country,  are  printed  herewith  in  another  chapter. 

In  1904,  at  San  Francisco,  a  resolution  introduced  by  Victor 
L.  Berger  containing  in  its  introduction  the  prophecy  that  "cap- 
italism will  soon  reach  its  culminating,  point,"  and  recommend- 
ing "to  all  organizations  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  to  have  their  members  study  the  economic  conditions," 
etc.,  provoked  a  long  and  acrimonious  debate,  with  a  lively  tilt 
over  a  leaflet  headed  "Are  they  Traitors  ?"  issued  from  the  office 
of  the  "Social  Democratic  Herald,"  of  which  Delegate  Berger 
was  editor,  bitterly  arraigning  President  Gompers  and  Vice-Pres- 
ident  Mitchell  for  dining  with  President  Eliot  of  Harvard  and 


20 

others  at  the  Exchange  Club  in  Boston.  The  convention,  on 
recommendation  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  took  out  of 
the  resolution  whatever  of  socialistic  purport  it  contained,  exon- 
erated its  officers  as  to  the  dinner  incident,  and  re-elected  Mr. 
Gompers,  Mr.  Berger  alone  going  on  record  as  opposing  unanim- 
ity in  the  vote.  Delegate  Berger  also  introduced  an  anti- 
militia  resolution  and  one  proposing  a  pension  of  $12  a  month 
for  every  wage-worker  after  the  age  of  sixty  whose  earnings 
shall  not  have  averaged  $1,000  a  year.  Both  were  lost.  The 
debates  and  statements  on  Socialist  matters  took  up  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  sessions  on  three  days. 

A  resolution  (98,  page  163)  was  passed  assigning  a  special 
representative  to  attend  the  next  convention  of  the  Western  Fed- 
eration of  Miners  to  invite  that  organization  to  re-affiliate  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

In  1905,  at  Pittsburg,  President  Gompers,  referring  to  the 
convention  of  Socialist  trade  and  political  organizations  held  the 
previous  July  in  Chicago,  promoted  by  the  Western  Federation 
of  Labor  under  its  more  recent  title  of  the  American  Labor  Union, 
said  in  his  report  that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  had 
been  "decried  and  denounced  by  men  who,  hiding  their  villainy 
and  hypocrisy  under  the  cloak  of  friendship  for  labor,  bombastic- 
ally declared  and  now  boast  that  our  unions  must  be  disrupted 
and  destroyed.  And  what  the  reason?  Because  the  American 
trade  union  movement  declines  to  permit  itself  to  become  commit- 
ted to  a  speculative,  theoretical  doctrine ;  declines  the  domination 
of  our  movement  by  fanatical  doctrinaires ;  declines  to  be  made 
a  tail  to  the  kite  of  a  political  party."  ...  Mr.  Gompers  also 
called  attention  to  the  ungrateful  course  of  the  Western  Federa- 
tion of -Miners  toward  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

Delegate  Victor  L.  Berger  was  again  on  hand  with  Socialist 
resolutions:  No.  130,  State  insurance;  No.  131,  a  pension  of 
$12  per  month  for  laborers  past  sixty;  137,  boycott  of  the  militia 
service;  142,  industrial  instead  of  trade  organization;  145,  de- 
nunciation of  Samuel  Gompers  for  "intimacy  and  harmonious  re- 
lation" with  "Civic  Federation  plutocrats."  On  the  last  named 
the  committee  reported:  "The  statements  contained  in  the  pre- 
amble of  this  resolution  are  a  misstatement  of  facts."  As  usual, 
all  the  resolutions  were  non-concurred  in.  Resolutions  35  and 
72,  one  being  the  usual  Socialist  demand  regarding  "the  tools  of 
production  and  distribution"  and  the  other  the  project  of  "class- 


conscious"  economic  education,  were  declared  out  of  order,  under 
the  amended  constitution,  as  involving  party  politics. 

The  Committee  on  President's  Report  decided  with  respect 
to  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners:  "In  justice  to  all  con- 
cerned an  accounting  should  be  "given  our  Executive  Council  as 
to  what  portion  of  the  very  large  amount  contributed  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  unions  .  .  .  for  the  defense 
of  the  legal  rights  of  trade  unionists  has  been  applied  for  the 
purpose-  for  which  it  was  donated." 

Mr.  Gompers  was  re-elected  President  with  but  two  dissenting 
voices,  those  of  Victor  L.  Berger  and  J.  Mahlon  Barnes. 

In  1906,  at  Minneapolis,  President  Gompers,  describing  in  his 
report  the  plan  recommended  at  Federation  headquarters  in  the 
election  for  Congressman,  said:  "There  has  been  no  departure 
in  our  campaign  from  the  well  defined  policy  of  the  American 
labor  movement  as  exemplified  by  our  trade  unions  and  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor."  "We  will  stand  by  our  friends 
and  administer  a  stinging  rebuke  to  men  or  parties  who  are  either 
indifferent,  negligent,  or  hostile  ;  and  wherever  opportunity  af- 
fords secure  the  election  of  intelligent,  honest,  earnest  trade 
unionists  with  unblemished,  paid-up  union  cards  in  their  posses- 
sion." 

Victor  L.  Berger  's  batch  of  resolutions  at  this  convention,  with 
the  exception  of  one  relating  to  compulsory  life  insurance,  which 
was  non-concurred  in,  brought  forward  such  subjects  as  factory 
inspection,  Mongolian  immigrants,  income  and  inheritance  taxa- 
tion, election  of  judges  by  the  people.  With  their  socialistic 
phraseology  omitted  they  were  adopted  or  recast  in  committee. 

At  the  re-election  of  President  Gompers,  Delegate  Victor  L. 
Berger,  this  year  representing  the  Wisconsin  State  Federation, 
with  one  vote,  asked,  as  the  only  delegate,  to  be  recorded  as  voting 
against  President  Gompers,  the  total  number  of  votes  cast  being 


In  1907,  at  Norfolk,  Delegate  Berger,  again  with  one  vote, 
introduced  a  resolution  calling  on  labor  to  organize  on  party  and 
class  lines.  It  was  rejected  on  the  same  constitutional  ground 
as  cited  in  1905.  On  the  question  of  increasing  the  President's 
salary.  Delegate  Berger  demanded  a  roll-call,  but  was  not 
seconded  by  the  required  number  of  delegates.  Mr.  Gompers 
was  re-elected  unanimously;  Delegate  Berger  seconded  his  nom- 
ination in  the  interests  of  a  united  unionism  in  view  of  the  attacks 


22 

of  the  combinations  of  employers  upon  the  officers  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  J.  Mahlon  Barnes  moved  that  the  con- 
vention declare  it  had  no  confidence  in  the  Civic  Federation.  The 
resolution  was  rejected  with  few  words  of  debate. 

In  1908,  at  Denver,  the  State  representative  from  Wisconsin, 
Delegate  Jeske,  Socialist,  with  one  vote,  asked  to  be  recorded  as  the 
only  negative  when  a  vote  was  taken  on  whether  Samuel  Gompers 
should  be  the  unanimous  choice  of  the  Federation  for  the  next 
year.  His  announcement  of  what  to  him  was  a  principle  barely 
evoked  a  pitying  smile.  What  was  once  to  the  unionist  the 
Socialist  bugaboo  had  become  a  stale  joke. 


THE  ASSAULTS  FROM  WITHOUT. 


The  struggle  in  America  between  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  apd  the  railroad  brotherhoods  on  the  one  side  and  the 
Socialists  organized  politically  on  the  other  has  for  twenty  years 
had  all  the  elements  of  a  stirring  drama.  .Distinctly  separate  acts 
have  followed  one  another  as  in  a  tragedy.  Each  act  has  con- 
sisted in  an  invasion  of  unionized  working-class  territory  by 
Socialism,  masquerading  successively  under  half  a  dozen  aliases. 
In  each  instance  the  invaders  have  aimed  to  substitute  for  the 
established  purely  economic  form  of  labor  organization  a  "class 
conscious"  political  party  having  as  its  object  the  Socialist  State. 
Each  act  has  developed  within  itself  the  theatrical  features  of  plot, 
contest,  and  climax,  the  upshot  uniformly  bringing  grief  to  the 
Socialists.  In  the  trade  unions  to-day  it  is  generally  accepted  as 
a  fact  that  in  the  last  act  to  present  date — that  in  which  the 
Socialists  appeared  on  the  boards  in  1905  as  the  Industrial  Work- 
ers of  the  World — the  conspirators  came  to  the  fate  traditionally 
awaiting  marplots,  their  powers  for  evil  in  the  Federation  for  the 
most  part  destroyed,  many  of  their  followers  disbanded  or  cap- 
tured, their  follies  exposed  and  their  mischievous  cause  irreparably 
damaged.  The  most  curious  feature  of  this  long-drawn-out 
drama  is  that  in  the  spectacle  of  the  catastrophic  final  scenes 
in  Chicago  there  were  assembled  before  the  interested  public  nearly 
every  actor  of  prominence  who  had  played  a  prominent  socialistic 
labor  role  in  this  country  in  all  the  previous  twenty  years. 

That  is  to  say,  in  the  prosaic  words  necessary  to  state  the  verit- 
able fact,  when,  at  Chicago,  in  June,  1905,  the  convention  was 
held  that  set  afoot  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  there 
were  present  or  had  been  invited 'nine-tenths  of  the  Socialist 
leaders  in  America  who  from  within  or  without  had  persistently 
•done  their  uttermost  to  break  down  American  trade  unionism  in 
order  to  build  up  Socialism.  One  or  other  of  these  men  had 
played  his  part  in  every  act  of  the  developing  drama.  Some 
remembered  in  bitterness  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  con- 
vention in  Detroit  in  1890,  when  in  rejecting  the  Socialist  Sanial 


24 

the  unionists  emphasized  their  definite  difference  with  Socialist 
aims.  Some  had  taken  part  in  promoting  in  the  Socialist  press 
the  wild  hope  that  the  collectivist  "Plank  Ten"  could  be  foisted 
on  the  Federation  convention  at  Denver  in  1894.  Present  too 
were  chiefs  of  the  American  Railway  Union  of  1894,  of  the  West- 
ern Labor  Union  of  1895,  of  the  New  York  Socialist  Trade  and 
Labor  Alliance  of  1895,  of  tne  Western  Federation  of  Mihers 
which  seceded  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  1896, 
and  of  its  offspring  the  American  Labor  Union.  Several  veteran 
Socialist  editors  whose  sharp  pens  had  continuously  for  decades 
fomented  dissension  in  trade  unions  were  also  among  the  partici- 
pants. 

To  name  some  of  the  men  thus  indicated :  Eugene  V.  Debs, 
once  Secretary  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  later 
head  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  through  which  he  designed 
to  kill  off  the  railroad  brotherhoods ;  Daniel  De  Leon,  New  York 
Socialist  editor  since  the  '8o's,  and  who  is  recorded  in  the  index 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  eleven-days'  convention  at  Chicago  as 
speaking  sixty-nine  times ;  D.  C.  Coates,  ex-Populist  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Colorado,  who  spoke  eighty-two  times ;  C.  C.  Ross, 
formerly  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers ;  Secretary 
Win.  D.  Haywood,  President  Charles  H.  Moyer,  ex-President 
Daniel  McDonald,  and  ex-editor  J.  M.  O'Neil,  all  of  the  Western 
Federation  of  Miners ;  Thomas  J.  Hagerty,  ex-priest,  who  spoke 
seventy-seven  times ;  Charles  O.  Sherman,  President  United  iXletal 
Workers  of  America,  suspended  from  the  American  Federation; 
A.  M.  Simons,  editorial  staff  " International  Socialist  Review"; 
Ernest  Untermann,  Socialist  writer;  W.  C.  Critchlow,  Dayton 
labor  editor  and  President  of  the  International  Protective  Labor- 
ers' Union,  and  W.  E.  Trautmann,  former  editor  of  the  Union 
"Brewery  Workers'  Zeitung,"  who  became  Secretary  of  the  In- 
dustrial Workers.  Among  the  women,  advancing  views  looking 
to  the  four  points  of  the  compass,  were  Mrs.  Lucy  E.  Parsons, 
Anarchist;  "Mother"  Jones,  Christian  Socialist;  Mrs.  Emma  F. 
Langdon,  of  the  Denver  Typographical  Union,  ready  to  pay  big 
assessments  to  keep  union  shops  "closed"  shops,  and  Miss  Luella 
Twining,  who  had  inveighed  against  the  closed  shop  as  "a  mon- 
opoly, the  same  as  the  Standard  Oil  Company." 

Among  the  leading  Socialists  of  the  country  invited  by  the 
preliminary  executive  committee  to  join  in  the  movement  were 
Victor  Berger,  whose  absence  is  unexplained  in  the  printed  "Pro- 


25 

ceedings ;"  J.  A.  Wayland,  of  the  "Appeal  to  Reason"  who  wrote 
saving:,  "If  conditions  permit  I  may  be  in  at  the  appointment;" 
Julius  Zorn,  Secretary  International  Brewery  Workmen,  who 
wrote  that  the  workers  must  get.  control  of  the  government  "by 
the  use  of  the  ballot-box  as  taught  by  International  Socialism ;" 
and  Max  S.  Hayes,  of  the  Socialist  Cleveland  "Citizen,"  at  that 
time  a  delegate  from  the  International  Typographical  Union  to 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

In  a  long  reply  written  to  the  Secretary,  Mr.  Hayes  explained 
his  own  polic/  with  cynical  candor.  He  said :  "I  intend  to  put 
in  whatever  time  and  means  that  I  have  to  agitate  on  the  inside 
of  the  organizations  now  in  existence  to  dump  conservatism 
overboard  and  prepare  to  take  their  places  'in  the  working  class 
administration  of  the  Co-operative  Commonwealth.'  Unless  I 
am  very  much  mistaken  the  i;ank  and  file  of  the  trade  unions  are 
awakening  as  never  before,  and  as  soon  as  even  a  good-sized 
minority  becomes  thoroughly  class  conscious  the  fossilized  leaders 
will  'go  up  in  the  air.'  ...  I  happen  to  know,  for  instance, 
that  at  every  Federation  Convention  there  is  more  speculation  and 
worrying  about  what  the  twenty  or  thirty  odd  Socialists  intend 
doing  than  any  equal  number  of  men.  Suppose  the  number  of 
Socialist  delegates  were  doubled  or  trebled." 

Mr.  Hayes'  policy,  thus  announced,  was,  in  words  frequently 
attributed  to  him,  "to  bore  from  within."  It  was  unnecessary  for 
him  to  join  his  Socialist  comrades  as  an  invader.  His  coign  of 
vantage  was  secure  within  "the  enemy's"  lines. 

The  amount  raised  from  unions  and  individuals  taking  part 
in  this  convention  was  $1,442.  Of  this,  more  than  half  ($750) 
came  from  the  -Western  Federation  of  Miners  directly;  as  this 
organization  was  at  the  time  receiving  aid  from  unions  all  over 
the  country  in  its  eight-hour  strike,  is  it  not  possible  that  a  part 
of  the  money  employed  in  this  attempt  to  destroy  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  came  from  its  own  members  indirectly? 
This  charge  was  made  by  many  union  men  at  the  time. 

During  eleven  days  this  congregation  of  semi-unionists  semi- 
Socialists,  ex-unionists,  declared  enemies  of  unionism,  'and  pre- 
viously irreconcilable  stripes  of  Socialists  reiterated  .all  their 
familiar  indictments  against  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 
Mr.  Trautmann,  fresh  from  a  service  of  years  on  the  Inter- 
national Brewers'  union  organ,  averred  that  the  Federation  had 
been  "debauched  and  corrupted  by  the  labor  leaders."  "A  collu- 


26 

sion  existed  between  the  owners  of  the  tools  and  the  labor  leaders 
of  this  country."  "The  trade  union  movement  has  become  an 
auxiliary  to  the  capitalist  class  in  order  to  hold  down  the  toilers 
of  the  land."  Delegate  Veal  eulogized  Robert  Randell,  a  miner, 
who  had  "charged  John  Mitchell  with  being  a  member  of  the 
capitalist  class,  of  wearing  diamonds,"  etc.  E.  V.  Debs  said : 
"The  trade  union  movement  to-day  is  under  the  control  of  the 
capitalist  class.  It  is  preaching  capitalist  economics.  It  is  serv- 
ing capitalist  purposes.  Proof  of  it,  positive  and  overwhelming, 
appears  on  every  hand."  De  Leon,  before  and  since  an  habitual 
disorganize^  declared:  "We  realize  the  necessity  of  a  united 
organized  movement  of  the  working  class."  In  concluding  his 
peroration,  amid  applause,  he  prophesied  success,  saying:  "Gom- 
pers  said,  'I  know  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  men.  I  know  what 
they  are  aiming  at,  but  when  that  day  comes  they  will  find  me 
with  a  gun  to  fight  them/  And  my  answer  was  then  in  the 
"People,"  as  it  is  now  on  the  floor  of  this  convention:  'Yes, 
Gompers ;  we  know  we  shall  find  you  there  unmasked ;  but  you 
will  not  on  that  day  find  the  S.  L.  P.  men  a  small  body ;  you  will 
find  the  American  working-class  arrayed  against  you — against 
you  along  with  the  rest  of  the  capitalist  class,  whom  you  in  fact 
represent.''  Of  course,  Mr.  Gompers  had  said  nothing  of  the 
sort  attributed  to  him  by  De  Leon.  The  purpose  of  the  misrepre- 
sentation was  to  incite  hatred  toward  the  trade  union  chief. 

The  idea  giving  birth  to  this  convention,  as  promulgated  in 
the  preliminary  committee's  "manifesto,"  was  to  found  a  new 
universal  wageworkers'  union,  organized,  not  on  the  lines  of 
trades,  but  of  industries  as  a  whole.  It  was  to  be  the  industrial 
feeder  to  political  Socialism.  "Trade  lines,"  read  the  manifesto, 
"have  been  swallowed  up  in  a  common  servitude  of  all  workers 
to  the  machines  which  they  tend.  New  machines,  ever  replacing 
less  productive  ones,  wipe  out  whole  trades  and  plunge  new  bodies 
of  workers  into  the  ever-growing  army  of  tradeless,  hopeless  un- 
employed." "The  worker,  wholly  separated  from  the  land  and 
the  tools,  with  his  skill  of  craftsmanship  rendered  useless,  is  sunk 
in  the  uniform  mass  of  wage  slaves."  "Laborers  are  no  longer 
classified  by  differences  in  trade  skill,  but  the  employer  assigns 
them  according  to  the  machines  to  which  they  are  attached." 
"Craft  divisions  hinder  the  growth  of  class  consciousness  of  the 
workers,  foster  the  idea  of  harmony  of  interests  between  employ- 
ing exploiter  and  employed  slave.  They  permit  the  association 


27 

of  the  misleaders  of  the  workers  with  the  capitalists  of  the  Civic 
Federation,  where  plans  are  made  for  the  perpetuation  of  capital- 
ism, and  the  permanent  enslavement  of  the  workers  through  the 
wage  system."  The  new  industrial  movement  was  to  provide  for 
"craft  autonomy  locally,  industrial  autonomy  internationally,  and 
working  class  unity  generally."  "It  must  be  founded  on  the  class 
struggle,  and  its  general  administration  must  be  conducted  in 
harmony  with  the  recognition  of  the  irrepressible  conflict  between 
the  capitalist  class  and  the  working  class."  "...  The  growth 
and  developme'nt  of  this  organization  will  build  up  within  itself 
the  structure  of  an  Industrial  Democracy— a  Workers'  Co-opera- 
tive Republic — which  must  finally  burst  the  shell  of  capitalist 
government  and  be  the  agency  by  which  the  working  people  will 
operate  the  industries  and  appropriate  the  products  to  them- 
selves." 

This  compression  in  the  ^manifesto  of  Karl  Marx's  doctrines 
and  this  reflex  of  his  pessimism  as  to  the  present  social  system 
and  optimism  as  to  the  consequences  of  his  final  cataclysmic  revo- 
lution was  the  text  for  the  eleven  days'  impassioned  speech-mak- 
ing at  the  convention.  Every  one  of  the  two  hundred  and  odd 
delegates  present  had  an  opportunity  to  take  the  floor.  The  sten- 
ographed "Proceedings"  as  printed  make  an  encyclopedic  volume 
of  616  pages. 

Truly,  the  actors  in  this  concluding  ensemble  played  their 
chosen  characters  to  their  heart's  content.  Notes  of  applause  and 
other  demonstrations  by  the  supernumeraries  abound  in  the  sten- 
ographer's report,  as  they  might  be  called  for  in  a  stage  prompter's 
book.  Pertinent  epigrammatic  interruptions  came  frequently  from 
the  wisely  laconic  understudy  players.  But  most  of  the  fat  vol- 
ume is  rilled  with  the  "tirades,"  colloquies,  soliloquies,  argu- 
mentations, and  denunciations  declaimed  by  the  score  of  principal 
"stars."  Attending  this  convention  would  have  been  an  education 
in  all  the  shades  of  varied  Socialism.  Familiarity  with  their  lines 
had  rendered  the  prominent  actors  admirable  interpreters  of  their 
roles.  They  treated  their  hearers  to  all  those  curious  and  aston- 
ishing traits  of  oratory  that  have  given  Socialist  propagandists 
a  peculiar  fame — rattling  rapid-fire  vilification  of  the  trade  union 
leaders  who  had  refused  to  be  persuaded,  dolorous  and  dreadful 
accounts  of  the  swiftly  deepening  misery  of  America's  masses, 
verbose  re-explications  of  disputable  points  in  social  evolution 
dear  to  believers  in  Marx's  ponderous  philosophy,  ecstatic  repeti- 


28 

tions  of  the  litany  of  Socialist  saints,  rapturous  interpretations,  of 
the  dream  of  the  socialistic  millennium,  and  confident  prophecies 
of  the  triumphant  outcome  awaiting  this  conference  of  seers  and 
men  of  deeds.  .  (See  "Proceedings  of  the  First  Convention  of  the 
Industrial  Workers  of  the  World.'-  Stenographically  reported  by 
W.  E.  McDermot;  revised  and  approved  by  W.  E.  Trautmann, 
Secretary  of  the  Convention.  New  York :  Labor  News  Com- 
pany.) 

The  managers  of  the  convention  gave  out  to  the  press  that 
the  delegates  represented  200,000  organized  men.  An  exper- 
ienced Chicago  labor  reporter's  estimate  was  that  they  might  pos- 
sibly stand  for  60,000.  But  the  delegates  took  hope  from  the  fact 
that  as  regards  numbers  the  beginnings  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  were  of  exceeding 
small  promise. 

The  voting  weight  of  the  delegates  was  distributed  after  a 
plan  worthy  of  a  whimsical  Utopia.  In  voting  on  the  constitution 
as  a  whole,  Haywood,  Moyer,  and  three  colleagues,  representing 
the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  cast  27,000  votes,  and  Hay- 
wood,  Moyer,  Coates,  and  McDonald,  and  six  colleagues,  repre- 
senting the  American  Labor  Union,  cast  16,750  votes.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty-one  delegates  cast  one  vote  apiece.  De  Leon  and 
the  Socialist  Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  had  1,450  votes,  Sherman 
and  the  Metal  Workers  .^,000,  Hall  and  White  and  the  United 
Brotherhood  of  Railway  Employes  2,087.  Twelve  "I.  W.  W." 
clubs  and  unions  were  allotted  from  10  to  201  votes  apiece.  That 
is,  of  the  total  49,717  votes  on  the  constitution,  the  delegations  em- 
bracing the  eight  or  ten  men  associated  in  the  public  mind  as  "the 
infiuentials"  cast  more  than  49,000. 

After  the  convention  had  adjourned,  headquarters  were  estab- 
lished at  Chicago,  with  Sherrnan  as  President  and  Trautmann  as 
Secretary.  The  campaign  of  organizing  the  wageworkers  of  Am- 
erica on  the  industrial  idea  began.  Rather,  the  attempts  at  disin- 
tegrating the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  the  railroad 
brotherhoods  which  had  been  carried  on  for  several  years  by  the 
American  Labor  Union  in  the  West  and  the  Socialist  Trade  and 
Labor  Alliance  in  the  East,  chiefly  in  New  York,  were  resumed. 
For  a  time  a  slightly  increased  impetus  was  gained  to  Socialism 
through  this  combination  of  all  the  working  class  antagonists  of 
the  unions  that  are  restricted  to  trades  and  to  purely  trade  union 
policies. 


29 

But  in  less  than  one  short  year  the  hopelessness  of  the  alliance 
had  become  evident,  and  the  impossibility  of  inveigling  the  mass 
of  unionists  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  into  Socialism 
under  any  guise  had  once  more  been  demonstrated.  Rapidly  suc- 
ceeding events  reproduced  the  proof  that  so  long  as  the  American 
Federation  is  left  to  pursue  its  customary  methods  and  achieve 
its  avowed  practical  ends  its  achievements  will  satisfy  the  Amer- 
ican working-man  as  the  best  possible  to  be  attained. 

The  Industrial  Workers  of  the  \Yorld  are  to-day  a  quantity 
quite  negligible,  both  to  the  regular  trade  unionists  and  the  country 
at  large.  What  is  left  of  the  organization  is  rent  into  factions. 
The  great  ensemble  of  stars  seen  at  Chicago  could  not  be  re-pre- 
sented. Many  of  the  artists  would  refuse  to  play  together  now. 
Several  of  them  are  exercising  upon  one  another  in  wordy  duels 
their  highly  developed  faculty  of  vitriolic  speech. 

To  go  back  now  from  Act  V.  to  Act  I.  of  the  long-drawn-out 
drama  which,  as  just  described,  reached  its  culmination  in  Chicago 
in  1905,  we  have  the  general  onslaught  of  the  Socialists  on  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  that  came  to  a  head  in  the  Sanial 
incident  at  Detroit  in  1890.  Prof.  De  Leon  was  with  Sanial  a 
leading  character  in  this  act,  directing  the  stage  forces  .from  an 
editorial  sanctum  in  New  York.  It  is  within  the  memory  of 
middle-aged  unionists  in  general  that  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
Socialists  of  that  day  were  encouraged  by  the  usual  sanguine  argu- 
ments to  believe  that  Sanial  must  win.  Poverty  was  driving  the 
working  classes  everywhere  to  desperation;  the  Socialist  party 
had  superseded  trade  unionism  in  Germany,  steadily  doubling  its 
voters  every  few  years;  the  "conservative"  tactics  of  Gompers 
and  his  colleagues  had  uniformly  led  to  failure  and  disappoint- 
ment ;  victory  was  in  sight  for  the  political  wing  of  the  prole- 
tariat. But  the  curtain  fell  with  Sanial  rejected  and  De  Leon 
gnashing  his  teeth  amid  his  cohorts  in  the  distance. 

The  year  1894  saw  Act  IT.  put  on  the  stage.  It  was  character- 
ized, to  employ  Mr.  Gompers'  words,  by  "furore  and  fiasco."  E. 
V.  Debs,  breaking  away  from  his  honored  position  in  the  strictly 
trade  union  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  had  been  the 
principal  actor  in  hastily  organizing  and  conducting  to  a  spectacu- 
lar general  strike  the  American  Railway  Union,  an  illustration  on 
a  grand  scale  of  the  brilliant  ruin  to  friend  and  foe  quickly  to  be 
effected  by  an  "industrial"  organization.  It  is  hardly  necessary 
here  to  dwell  on  the  set-back,  fortunately  temporary,  in  reputation 


30 

and  numerical  force,  that  the  Debs  railroad  strike  gave  to  Amer- 
ican trade  unionism,  both  in  the  brotherhoods  and  the  Federation 
of  Labor.  These  were  made  to  suffer,  though  they  witnessed 
violations  of  their  settled  principles  in  the  precipitate  haste  to 
strike,  the  wild  disorder,  the  destruction  of  property,  and  the  lurid 
pronunciainentos  that  attended  that  strike.  The  Socialists,  aiding 
and  abetting  Debs,  at  that  period  preached  their  doctrines  in  all 
possible  quarters.  Some  who  were  in  the  old  unions  claimed 
space  in  the  "American  Fcdcrationist,"  the  organ  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  under  its  custom  of  admitting  more  or  less 
academic  discussions  on  sociological  questions  in  general.  Thomas 
J.  Morgan,  of  Chicago,  a  member  of  the  machinists'  union,  still 
at  present  occupying  a  prominent  position  in  the  Socialist  aggre- 
gation, wrote,  in  No.  I,  Vol.  I.  of  the  "Federationist"  (March, 
1894)  :  "The  extent  to  which  this  radical  sentiment  has  per- 
meated the  union  labor  movement  of  the  United  States  will  be 
shown  by  the  instructions  of  the  unions  to  their  delegates  to  the 
next  annual  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and 
in  the  vote  which  will  then  be  taken  upon  section  10  of  the  pro- 
gramme submitted  for  their  consideration.  This  alone  will  be  the 
vital  test.  ...  In  Europe,  it  is  the  foundation  of  the  whole 
political  labor  movement,  but  it  is  Socialism." 

In  the  course  of  the  scenes  of  this  act  in  1894  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  displayed  toward  Debs  and  the  regular 
Socialists  a -spirit  of  mingled  antipathy  and  sympathy.  As  just 
shown  in  the  Morgan  example,  it  was  usual  in  those  days  to  print 
Socialist's  articles  in  union  papers;  a  resolution  was  passed  at 
the  Federation's  convention  in  Denver  appealing  to  railroad  re- 
ceivers not  to  blacklist  the  Pullman  strikers;"  the  Federation 
leaders  permitted  delegates  to  the  convention  whose  expenses  were 
paid  by  trade  unions  to  devote  much  of  their  energies  to  the 
spread  of  Socialism  in  the  city ;  the  convention  itself  set  aside 
trade  union  business  to  discuss  at  length  Socialist  propositions. 
Besides,  the  organization  contributed  out  of  its  then  own  meagre 
treasury  $250  to  a  defense  fund  for  Debs. 

Act  III.  performed  for  the  most  part  in  New  York,  saw,  as 
one  of  its  scenes,  the  rise  in  1895  of  the  Socialist  Trade  and  Labor 
Alliance.  This  organization,  with  De  Leon  as  one  of  its  stars, 
for  years  played  havoc  with  trade  unionism  on  the  East  Side.  It 
was  a  constant  menace  to  the  garment  workers,  but  also  helped  to 
weigh  down  the  foreign  printers  and  factory  workers  of  that  part 


of  the  city  in  general.  Wherever  it  obtained  a  footing  it  boy-' 
cotted  the  labels  or  underworked  the  scales  of  the  regular  union 
garment  workers,  cigar  makers,  tobacco  workers,  boot  and  shoe 
workers,  coal  miners,  stationary  engineers  and  firemen,  green 
bottle  blowers,  and  other  wage  workers.  The  records  of  these 
cases  are  on  file  at  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  headquar- 
ters. This  Socialist  Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  promoted  a  con- 
gress of  Socialist  trade  unionists  at  St.  Louis,  which  eventuated 
in  nothing.-  , 

Act  IV.  began  when  in  1896  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
seceded  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  Technically  the 
body  was  suspended  for  non-payment  of  dues.  It  went  off  by 
itself  because  the  United  Mine  'Workers  and  the  American  Feder- 
ation unions  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Region  held  to  less  irrecon- 
cilable methods  toward  employers  than  those  it  pursued.  In  the 
next  scene  appeared  the  Western  Federation  of  Labor,  made  up 
of  unions  of  various  trades  in  the  far  west  which  sympathized 
with  the  Federation  of  Miners.  In  the  next  scene,  a  year  or  two 
later,  there  appeared  the  American  Labor  Union.  Actually,  the 
backbone  of  these  organizations  and  finally  of  the  Industrial 
Workers  was  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners.  Their  leading 
actors  were  Hay\vood,  Mover,  McDonald,  and  O'Neil. 

And  in  due  course,  an  understanding  being  reached  between 
the  political  industrial  organizations  in  the  United  States  whose 
doctrines  were  at  variance  with  those  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  the  Chicago  Convention  of  the  Industrial  Workers  of 
the  World,  as  described,  initiated  Act  V. 

Climax ;  chaos ;  curtain. 


THE  WESTERN   FEDERATION   OF   MINERS. 


The  turning  points  in  the  history  of  the  Socialist  Western 
Federation  of  Miners  are  to  be  traced  in  the  following  series  of 
quotations,  on  which  no  running  comment  by  the  compiler  is 
necessary.  Once  a  fundamentally  wrong  theory  was  applied  to 
this  union  all  the  disasters  that  overtook  it  came  logically : 

Prom  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gonipcrs  signed  by  Ed.  B.oyce,  President 
Western  Federation  of  Miners,  dated  Bntte,  Montana,  March 
16,  1897: 

"...  Do  not  think  me  egotistical  when  I  say  that  I  think 
the  laboring  men  of  the  West  are  one  hundred  years  ahead  of 
their  brothers  in  the  East.  You  will  remember  that  I  told  you  in 
Cincinnati  that  I  had  not  been  East  in  fifteen  years,  and  I  never 
was  so  much  surprised  in  my  life  as  I  was  at  that  convention, 
when  I  sat  and  listened  to  the  delegates  from  the  East  talking 
about  conservative  action  when  four  million  idle  men  and  women 
are  tramps  upon  the  highway,  made  so  by  a  vicious  system  of  gov- 
ernment that  will  continue  to  grind  them  'further  into  the  dust 
unless  they  have  the  manhood  to  get  out  and  fight  with  the  sword 
or  use  the  ballot  with  intelligence. 

"You  know  that  I  AM  NOT  A  TRADES  UNIONIST;  I  am 
fully  convinced  that  their  day  of  usefulness  is  past ;  and  fur- 
thermore, since  last  election  there  is  little  sympathy  existing  be- 
tween the  laboring  men  of  the  West  and  their  Eastern  brothers." 

Editorial  in  the  "American  Pcdcrationist,"  May,  1902: 
"It  is  well  known  that  the  national  and  international  trade 
unions  planted  the  seed  of  unionism  in  Colorado  and  Montana, 
as  they  did  in  every  other  western  center  of  the  country.  The  idea 
of  fraternity  had  taken  such  deep  root  that  it  persuaded  all  fair- 
minded  workmen,  including  the  members  of  the  Western  Federa- 
tion of  Miners,  to  become  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor.  This  affiliation,  however,  was  delayed  until  after  the 
strike.  In  fact,  since  so  much  misrepresentation  of  this 


33 

has  been  made,  it  is  well  to  say  that  the  strike  of  the  Leadville 
miners  began  on  June  20,  1896,  and  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners  became  affiliated  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
July  7,  1896;  in  other  words,  just  about  three  weeks  after  the 
inauguration  of  the  strike.  This  statement  in  itself  may  show  to 
many  who  have  misrepresented  the  facts  how  they  have  either 
been  imposed  upon  or  are  themselves  guilty  of  untruth. 

"It  will  also  show  that  there  was  some  other  reason  than  the 
Leadville  strike  which  led  to  the  separation  of  the  Western  Feder- 
ation of  Miners  from  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  nor  is 
it  uninteresting  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  subsequent 
convention  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  by  unanimous 
vote  instructed  its  officers  to  continue  the  affiliation  with  the  Am- 
erican Federation  of  Labor,  an  instruction  against  which  the 
officers  did  not  object  either  by  speech  or  vote  at  the  convention, 
but  absolutely  and  wilfully  refused  to  carry  out  after  the  conven- 
tion closed.  It  was  then  that  an  effort  was  made  to  create  a 
Western  Labor  L'nion,  the  promoters  intending  that  it  should  be 
a  rival  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  certain  circum- 
scribed sections. 

"We  have  maintained  not  only  in  this  controversy  but  in  every 
other  of  a  similar  character  that  there  never  yet  were  two  organ- 
izations or  governments  claiming  jurisdiction  over  the  same  terri- 
tory, trades  or  people,  but  in  which  rivalry  finally  resulted  in 
antagonism  and  conflict.  % 

"When  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  through  the  action 
of  its  officials,  became  separated  from  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  we  found  no  fault  and  were  simply  willing  to  await  the 
time  when  better  judgment  would  follow,  and  affiliation  and  unity 
be  accomplished.  But  when  the  so-called  Western  Labor  Union 
undertook  to  issue  charters  to  local  organizations  of  trades  and 
callings  of  which  there  were  national  and  international  unions  in 
existence  (under  whose  jurisdiction  they  should  have  come)  it 
thus  inaugurated  conflict  of  jurisdiction  and  injured  the  interests 
of  the  members  of  those  crafts. 

"The  American  Federation  of  Labor  stands  for  the  principle 
that  the  interests  of  labor  are  identical  regardless  of  the  geographi- 
cal situation  of  the  country  in  which  the  workers  may  be  located. 
In  the  very  nature  of  things  as  the  title  of  this  organization  indi- 
cates, it  essays  to  be  a  Western  Labor  L'nion,  and  that  in  itself 


34 

is  a  declaration  for  the  division  of  the  labor  forces  of  the  United 
States,  when  unity  is  so  essential."  .  .  . 

Circular  issued  by  Daniel  McDonald,  President  Western  Labor 
Union,  Butte,  Montana,  February  12,  1902 : 

"-  .  .  .  On  and  about  May  i,  1901,  complaints  reached  the 
Western  Labor  Union  office  that  organized  labor  in  the  city  of 
Denver  was  slowly  becoming  stagnant,  and  unless  some  action 
was  taken  in  that  field,  the  wage  earners  already  organized  would 
suffer.  In  May  I  visited  the  city,  and  at  once  became  convinced 
that  a  more  active  campaign  of  some  kind  was  necessary,  and 
directing  an  organizer  into  the  field,  operations  were  commenced 
May  9.  The  Firemen  and  Engineer  Helpers  were  organized,  and 
in  one  month  had  an  organization  of  155  members.  Soon  after, 
the  Beer  Bottlers  and  Bottle  Beer  Drivers  were  organized  with  a 
membership  of  53  in  good  standing.  On  June  5  the  Butchers' 
Protective  Union  No.  162  was  organized,  and  at  present  has  a 
membership  of  532.  On  June  10  the  Blacksmith  and  Helpers' 
Union,  No.  163.,  was  placed  within  the  pale  of  organized  labor, 
and  in  three  months  had  a  membership  of  182. 

.  By  diligent  and  persistent  effort,  systematically  car- 

ried on,  the  Western  Labor  Union  has  brought  within  the  pale  of 
unionism,  in  the  city  of  Denver  alone,  3,894  men.  In  other  words, 
these  have  been  added  to  the  number  of  earnest  and  energetic 
missionaries  in  fhe  cause  of  unionism;  thus  increasing  the  power 
and  influence  of  organized  labor,  stimulating  courage  in  the 
breasts  of  the  working  people,  creating  an  agitation  for  better  con- 
ditions and  disseminating  and  broadening  the  spirit  of  independ- 
ence and  self-reliance  among  the  wage  earners  of  that  city. 

"Since  last  May  the  Western  Labor  Union  has  issued  71 
charters.  Seventeen  of  these  were  issued  to  unions  in  Denver, 
and  the  other  54  to  unions  'throughout  the  inter  mountain 
States."  .  .  . 

Letter  written  by  Secretary  Prank  Morrison  to  the  Executive 
Council  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  from  Denver, 
Colo.,  June  2,  1902 : 

•  Favorable  action   was   taken   upon   our   request  by 

the  Western  Labor  Union,  and  three  o'clock  Saturday  afternoon 
stated  as  the  special  order  for  the  representatives  of  the  American 


35 

Federation  of  Labor  to  appear  before  their  convention.  .  .  . 
Eugene  V.  Debs  was  called  upon  and  made  a  very  vicious  attack 
upon  the  trades  unions,  stating  that  their  usefulness  was  at  an  end 
and  that  they  failed  of  their  purpose,  and  advised  that  the  con- 
vention declare  in  favor  of  class-conscious  political  action  under 
the  banner  of  the  International  Socialist  Party.  He  recommended 
in  an  impassioned  speech  that  the  Western  Labor  Union  change 
their  name  to  the  American  Labor  Union  and  that  they  declare  in 
favor  of  Socialism  and  carry  their  banner  into  the  East  where,  he 
assured  them,  they  would  secure  recruits,  and  the  labor  organiza- 
tions of  the  East  would  flock  to  their  support  under  that  flag.  He 
appealed  to  their  sectional  feeling,  denounced  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  as  being  reactionary  and  laid  particular  stress 
upon  the  fact  that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  officials 
were  using  the  organization  through  their  connection  with  the 
Civic  Federation  to  strengthen  and  bolster  up  the  Republican 
party,  and  particularly  for  the  aggrandizement  of  Senator  Hanna ; 
persistently  attacking  President  Gompers,  and  by  specious  argu- 
ment he  tried  to  convey  to  the  minds  of  the  delegates  that  an 
understanding  existed  between  Hanna  and  those  members  of 
organized  labor  that  had  become  members  of  the  Civic  Federation. 

"I  replied  to  his  attack  and  pointed  out  the  fact  that  I  had 
heard  him  speak  as  eloquently  in  1896  for  the  placing  in  power  of 
the  Democratic  party  as  he  was  now  speaking  for  the  success  of 
the  Socialist  party.  I  challenged  him  to  point  out  a  single  instance 
in  which  the  Socialist  party  or  any  other  party  had  secured  im- 
proved conditions  for  the  wage  workers. 

''  .  The  Socialist  agitators  and  representatives  of  the 

Western  Labor  Union  and  the  officers  of  the  'Western  Federation 
of  Miners  are  going  to  put  forth  their  every  effort  to  entrench 
themselves  in  the  Inter-mountain  States,  and  to  make  their  work 
effective  they  are  ,eoing  to  carry  their  efforts  to  organize  into  the 
adjacent  States  of  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Texas  and  Oklahoma  Terri- 
tory. They  are  alreadv  doing  everything  they  can  to  get  a  foot- 
hold in  ^Washington,  Oregon  and  California." 

The  Denver  "Daily  Xcws"  June  i,  1902: 
"Greek  met  Greek  when  Eugene  V.  Debs  and  Daniel  McDonald 
combated  the  views  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  repre- 
sentatives at  the  session  of  the  Western  Labor  Union  yesterday 
afternoon. 


36 

"This  was  the  feature  of  the  day  in  the  labor  conventions. 
Frank  Morrison  and  Thomas  I.  Kidd  spoke  at  the  miners'  conven- 
tion in  the  morning,  extending  an  invitation  to  join  with  them 
and  asking  for  unity.  All  went  peacefully.  But  in  the  afternoon 
it  was  different.  For  four  hours  these  labor  giants  clashed 
swords  with  the  Western  leaders  and  the  'fire  flashed  and  fur 
flew,'  and  the  delighted  and  cheering  delegates  were  treated  to 
the  hottest  debate  that  a  Western  Labor  convention  ever 
heard."  .  .  . 

Two  telegrams  and  a  letter  on  file  of  headquarters  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor: 

"Denver,  Colo.,  Nov.  13,  1903. 
"Frank  Morrison,  A.  F.  of  L.,  Boston,  Mass.: 

"In  the  interest  of  organized  labor  waste  no  time  in  your  con- 
vention discussing  the  appropriation  of  one  thousand  dollars  to 
the  Western  Federation  of  Miners ;  the  metalliferous  miners 
under  the  leadership  of  President  Mover  and  the  coal  miners 
under  Mother  Jones  have  joined  hands  in  battle  for  an  eight-hour' 
day  and  we  are  going  to  win.  WM.  D.  HAY  WOOD, 

"Secy-Treas.   Western   Federation   of   Miners."   . 

"Washington,  D.  C.,  December  30,  1903. 
"Frank  Morrison : 

"In  conformity  with  the  action  of  the  convention  upon  resolu- 
tion No.  1 8,  please  send  check  for  $1,000  to  the  Western  Federa- 
tion of  Miners.  SAMUEL  GOMPERS/' 

"Denver,  Colo.,  May  25,  1904. 
"Samuel  Gompers : 

"Committee  waited  upon  convention  of  miners.  Royally  re- 
ceived. Strong  sentiment  for  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
At  close  of  our  address  three  hearty  cheers  were  given  for  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor. 

"W.  D.  MAHON,  CHRIS.  EVANS,  R.  CORNELIUS,  MAX  MORRIS, 
— Committee." 

Butte,  Montana,  "Reveille,"  August  28,   1903: 
'   ...     In  general,  two  circumstances  were  responsible  for 
the  introduction  of  Socialism  into  Montana.     One  was  the  over- 


37 

weening-  ambition  of  Dan  McDonald  to  be  tbe  chief  of  labor 
leaders  in  the  Tinted  States,  and  the  other  was  the  devouring 
spirit  of  revenge  which  lurked  in  the  breast  of  Eugene  Debs 
against  his  old  rival,  Samuel  Gompers,  now  and  for  many  years 
President  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  perhaps  the 
most  popular  leader  in  the  world  to-day. 

The  astute  Debs  saw  in  McDonald  a  ready  tool  for 
his  operations.     He  unfolded  to  Dan  his  gigantic  scheme. 

'Throw  open  the  doors  of  your  organization  to  all  the  unions 
in  the  country ;  give  it  a  universal  name ;  espouse  the  cause  of 
Socialism  and  you  will  capture  the  sympathies  .of  the  working 
men  of  the  United  States.' 

'  .  .  .  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company's  agents  thought  they  saw  in  Socialism  a  handy  tool  for 
the  accomplishment  of  thair  own  ends. 

"...  This  is  what  the  people  of  Montana  must  always 
remember.  It  was  on  the  top  floor  of  the  Hennessy  Building  that 
the  'Labor  World'  had  its  birth.  It  was  directly  at  the  order  of 
William  Scallon  that  this  viper  sheet  was  first  flung  out. 

"One  of  the  reporters  of  the  Anaconda  'Standard'  was  chosen 
as  its  editor,  the  'Inter  Mountain'  was  detailed  to  get  out  the 
paper,  to  supply  the  material,  to  do  the  printing  and  mailing — all 
this,  of  course,  under  the  guise  of  an  independent  Socialist  news- 
paper, supported  by  the  contributions  of  sympathetic  Socialists. 

"...  .After  getting  the  'Labor  World'  started,  the  Amal- 
gamated Copper  Company  proposed  to  Dan  McDonald  to  publish 
his  new  organ,  which  was  christened  the  'American  Labor  Union.'" 

Among  a  list  of  nearly  one  hundred  unions,  made  out  by 
Frank  Morrison,  Secretary,  the  charters  of  which  had  been  re- 
voked, or  to  which  charters  had  been  refused,  by  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  in  1903  and  1904,  and  to  which  charters  were 
granted  by  the  American  Labor  Union,  were  the  following.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  the  policy  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  was,  and  is,  to  avoid  dual  organizations,  which  usually 
become  rivals,  in  existing  trade  unions,  and  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  a  national  or  international  union  over  the  unions  of 
an  entire  trade.  Charters  were  refused  to  the  organizations  re- 
ferred to  because  they  were  found  to  have  been  formed  in  rivalry 
to  unions  regularly  connected  with  the  general  movement  of  either 


38 

the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  building  trades,  or  the 
railroad  brotherhoods : 

Central  Labor  Union,  Memphis,  Tenn. 

Blue  Stone  Cutters'  Union,  Hudson  County,  N.  J. 

Master  Horseshoers'  Union,  Warren,  Pa. 

Paper  Cigarette  Makers'  Union  of  North  America. 

Trade  and  Labor  Assembly,  Denver,  Colo. 

Woodworkers   and  Painters'  Union,  Stockton,  Cal. 

International  Brotherhood  of  Steam  Shovel  and  Dredgemen. 

National  Union  of  General  Mechanics  and  Traction  Engineers. 

Dredge  Scowmen,  Deckhands,  Firemen,  and  Watchmen,  Sault 

Ste.  Marie,  Mich. 

Railway  Building  Bridgemen,  Winona,  Minn. 
Mosaic  'Workers'  Union,  Troy,  N.  Y. 
Marine  Engineers'  Union,  Detroit,  Mich. 
Theater  Ushers'  Association,  Union  County,  N.  J. 
Marble    and    Glass    Mosaic    and   Terrazzi    Workers'    Union, 

Cleveland,  O. 

Steam  Roller  Engineers'  Union,  Chicago,  111. 
Theatrical  Scenic  Artistic  Association,  Chicago,  111. 
Machinists  and  Boilermakers'  Helpers,  Youngstown,  O. 
Captains  and  Sailing  Vessel  Owners'  Union,  Kingston,  Out. 
Stone  Cutters  and  Stone  Masons'  Union,  Albuquerque,  N.  M. 
Rbckmen's  Protective,  Wilkesbarre,  Pa. 
Cement  Workers'  Union,  Eureka,  Cal. 
United  Order  of  Box  Makers  of  America. 
Central  Labor  Union,  Detroit,  Mich. 
American  Flint  Glass  Workers'  Union. 
.Asphalt  Workers'  Association,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Pile  Drivers,  Bridge  and  Wharf  Builders,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Millwrights  and  Machinery  Erectors,  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 
Horseshoers'  Apprentices'  Union,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Federation  of  Labor,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Letter  written  by  Samuel  Campers,  June  25,  1904: 
"Mr.   Geo.   E.   Shaver,    Secretary,   Oregon   State   Federation   of 

Labor : 
"Dear  Sir  and  Brother: 

"I  received  your  favor  of  June  2  in  which  you  inclose  copy  of 
resolution  unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention  of  the  Oregon 


39 

State  Branch,  at  the  same  time  asking  that  the  request  contained 
in  the  resolution  be  complied  with  as  soon  as  possible 

"In  that  resolution  it  is  stated  that  over  $100,000  was  con- 
tributed by  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  to  the  United  Mine 
Workers  of  America  during  the  anthracite  coal  strike  in  Pennsyl- 
vania." .  .  . 

9 

Letter  relating  to  this  statement,  dated  June  21,  1904: 
"...  Replying  I  desire  to  state  that  we  did  not  receive 
any  money  from  the  General  Organization  of  the  Western  Feder- 
ation of  Miners  during  that  time.  Several  of  their  local  unions 
contributed.  The  total  amount  received  from  them  being 
$2,795.70. 

"Of  course  it  is  possible  that  some  of  the  local  unions  of  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners  may  have  contributed  through 
'citizens1  committees' ;  but  as  we  have  no  record  of  the  individual 
contributors  in  such  case  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  state  how 
much  was  contributed  in  that  way ;  but  it  is  certain  that  it  could 
not  have  been  very  large,  as  the  total  amount  received  from  citizens' 
committees  west  of  the  Missouri  River  did  not  reach  $10,000. 
"Fraternally  yours, 

"W.  B.  WILSON, 
"Secretary  United  Mine  Workers  of  America." 

Report  of  the  Executive  Board   of  the   Western   Federation  of 

Miners,  December  22,  1904 : 

'  .  .  .  During  the  present  meeting  of  the  board  we  were 
visited  by  a  sub-committee  from  the  executive  board  of  the  Amer- 
ican Labor  Union.  The  relations  of  the  two  organizations  were 
thoroughly  gone  over  and  all  matters  satisfactorily  adjusted.  We 
have  selected  President  Moyer  as  a  member  of  the  executive  board 
of  the  American  Labor  Union,  and  from  this  time  forward  pro- 
pose to  be  an  active  factor  in  the  work  of  that  organization." 

Circular  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor: 

"Washington,  D.C.,  March  21,  1905. 
"To  the  Officers  and  Members  of  Affiliated  Unions: 

"Dear  Sirs  and  Brothers :  At  the  meeting  of  the  Executive 
Council  held  at  headquarters  during  the  week  of  March  13-18 
inclusive,  among  other  matters  considered  was  the  financial  assist- 


40 

ance  rendered  by  our  unions  to  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners, 
and  the  action  of  that  organization  in  making  every  effort  to  dis- 
rupt the  trade  union  movement  of  America,  when  the  following 
preambles  and  resolution  were  adopted,  and  the  undersigned  di- 
rected to  forward  copy  of  same  to  you : 

"  'Whereas,  The  officers  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
have  taken  an  active  part  in  calling  a  "congress"  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  another  federation  of  organized  workers  of  the  coun- 
try, which  would  be  detrimental  to  the  trade  union  movement, 
the  result  of  which  will  be  accentuated  division  in  the  labor  move- 
ment, and  a  consequent  weakening  on  the  part  of  the  American 
trade  Union  movement  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  working 
people,  and  a  lessening  of  their  power  to  resist  encroachments  or 
secure  better  labor  conditions ;  and, 

"  'Whereas,  In  the  direst  time  of  need  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  and  its  component  parts  promptly  and  liberally  came 
to  the  rescue  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  both  by  moral 
influence  arc!  financial  assistance  which  was  admittedly  of  the 
greatest  assistance  when  help  was  urgent ;  and, 

"  'Whereas,  We  have  no  knowledge  that  the  Western  Federa- 
tion of  Miners  is  in  any  way  reciprocating  by  strengthening  or 
solidifying  the  labor  movement  of  our  country,  but  instead  the 
effort  is  now  being  made  to  divide  its  ranks ;  therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Council  recommends  to  affili- 
ated unions  that  no  further  donations  be  made  to  assist  the  West- 
ern Federation  of  Miners,  and  urges  such  unions  as  are  in  a  posi- 
tion to  contribute  to  respond  generously  to  our  appeals  reo nesting 
donations  for  the  rreirbers  of  the  United  Garment  Workers  of 
America,  and  the  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers  of  North  America, 
in  their  struggle  against  the  efforts  of  their  employers  to  establish 
the  non-union  or  open  shop  in  their  trades.'  ' 

The  Xoveuibcr,  1903,  issue  of  the  "Cap  Makers'  Journal" 

contained  a  four-column  editorial  criticism  on  "Gompers  and  the 
Civic  Federation."  The  editor  called  on  the  workingmen  of  the 
country  to  employ  "the  weapon  of  organized  political  action."  The 
wageworkcrs  "must  all  vote  the  same  ticket  on  election  day,  just 
as  they  all  leave  their  work  when  a  strike  is  declared.  They  "must 
be  rescued"  from  "the  thralldom  of  capitalist  slavery."  In  March, 
1905,  after  generous  financial  aid  had  been  given  by  the  American 


41 

Federation  of  Labor  to  the  Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers'  Union, 
Max  Zuckerman,  its  International  Secretary,  (on  the  2Oth  inst.) 
sent  the  following  enthusiastic  telegram  to  Mr.  Gompers : 
"Cloth  Hat  and  Cap  Makers',  strike  settled  with  glory." 

Denver  "Clarion   Advocate"    (American   Federation    of  Labor}, 

March   10,   1905 : 

"  .  .  .  For  a  long  time  there  have  been  vague  mutterings 
from  the  Eastern  organizations  which  under  the  appeal  of  Presi- 
dent Gompers  and  the  Federation  leaders  have  poured  out  money 
like  water  in  aid  of  the  Western  miners.  There  is  still  no  desire 
to  begrudge  the  needed  aid  which  was  given  in  a  righteous  cause 
to  maintain  unionism  and  to  resist  the  economic  and  political  out- 
rages practised  on  Western  workers.  As  long  as  the  struggle 
was  on  and  men's  passions  were  wrought  to  the  highest  pitch,  it 
was  still  thought  desirable  by  the  Eastern  men  to  overlook  the 
constant  attacks  of  the  Western  men  upon  the  national  craft 
organizations  and  leaders.  But  now  that  the  struggle  is  practi- 
cally over  or,  at  least  transferred  to  the  political  field,  it  is  practi- 
cally certain  that  the  policy  of  silence  will  be  discontinued. 
Already  the  'Mine  Workers'  Journal!  stung  to  hysterics,  has 
poured  out  a  column  of  philippics  which  reads  like  some  of  John 
O'Xeil's  masterpieces.  President  Gompers  has  editorially  poured 
hot  shot  into  the  union-smashing  programme  of  the  Chicago  socal- 
istic  industrial  hodge-podge.  The  coal  miners  have  officially 
severed  fraternal  relations  with  the  Western  Federation.  Editor 
Trautmann  of  the  'Brewers  Journal  has  been  suspended  for  sign- 
ing the  Chicago  manifesto.  Grant  Hamilton  has  filled  pages  of 
the  March  'Fcderatiouist'  with  an  arraignment  of  the  Socialists 
under  the  caption  'Funny  Unionism.'  And  all  signs  point  to  a 
declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  the  American  Federation." 

Samuel  Gompers,  editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  March, 

1905: 

(Under  the  heading  "The  Trade  Unions  to  be  Smashed  Again.") 
"...  We  feel  sure  that  the  endorsement  and  the  latest 
accession  to  this  new  movement  of  Mr.  Daniel  Loeb  alias  De  Leon, 
will  bring  unction  to  the  souls  of  these  promoters  of  the  latest 
trade  union  smashing  scheme.  So  the  Socialist  trade  union 
smashers  and  rammers  from  without,  and  the  borers  from  within. 


are  again  joining  hands;  a  pleasant  sight  of  the  'Pirates'  and  the 
'Kangaroos'  hugging  each  other  in  glee  over  their  prospective 
prey. 

"It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  note  that  President  Moyer 
and  Secretary  Haywood,  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners, 
have  joined  the  coterie  in  the  call  for  this  new  effort  to  destroy 
the  labor  movement.  Mark  well,  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  toward  whose  assistance  the  members  and  unions  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  contributed  thousands  upon  thous- 
ands of  dollars,  and  are  yet  contributing,  as  a  result  of  our  appeal 
in  their  behalf,  and  in  response  to  appeals  and  visits  from  the 
representatives  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  now  being 
made,  are  exhibiting  their  sense  of  gratitude  and  principles  of 
unionism  in  the  effort  to  disrupt  the  trade  union  movement.  Aye, 
even  the  official  journal  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  in 
publishing  the  American  Federation  of  Labor's  appeal  for  finan- 
cial assistance,  unconsciously  paid  our  movement  a  tribute  by 
publishing  our  indictment  of  Colorado  conditions  and  appeal  for 
financial  assistance  under  the  following  head :  'The  American 
Federation  of  Labor  to  the  Rescue.' 

"We  do  not  believe  that  either  Mr.  Moyer  or  Mr.  Haywood 
represents  in  this  their  latest  acts  either  the  wishes  or  purposes 
of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  disruptive  tactics  to  which  they  have  given 
their  names  and  their  services  have  been  pursued  without  consult- 
ing the  wishes  or  obtaining  the  consent  of  the  membership  either 
at  a  convention  or  by  referendum. 

"Of  course,  we  are  aware  that  some  Socialists  have  declared 
that  this  latest  effort  is  wrongful,  but  the  protest  of  most  of  these 
is  half-hearted  and,  upon  the  face,  insincere."  .  .  . 

Editorial,  "American  Federationist"  April,  1905 : 
"The  latest  'concentrated'  effort  of  the  Socialists  to  destroy  the 
trade  union  movement  is  inaugurated  under  the  pretext  that  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  refuses  to  recognize  the  changes 
which  are  constantly  taking  place  in  industry.  That  it  is  a  pretext 
inexcusably  ignorant  and  maliciously  false  any  observer  must 
know.  It  is  designed  for  the  single  object  of  hiding  the  real  pur- 
pose— that  is,  of  trying  to  divide  and  disrupt  and  destroy  the 
trade  union  movement,  which  has  done  and  is  doing  so  much  to 


43 

protect    and    advance    the    interests    of    the    working    people    of 
America. 

"Let  us  see  the  position  which  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  takes  upon  the  question  of  trade  union  and  the  so-called 
industrial  organization.  The  most  definite  declaration  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  upon  that  subject  was  at  the 
Scran  ton  convention. 

"It  emphasized  the  impossibility  of  establishing  hard  and  fast 
lines  by  which  all  trade  unions  can  govern  themselves ;  it  declared 
that  the  permanency  of  the  trade  union  movement  depends  upon 
the  recognition  and  advocacy  of  the  principle  of  autonomy  con- 
sistent with  the  varying  phases  and  transitions  in  industry;  that 
the  interests  of  labor  are  best  promoted  by  the  subdivided  crafts 
being  closely  allied  and  efforts  made  to  amalgamate  them,  as  well 
as  the  organization  of  district  and  national  trade  councils  for  the 
common  concert  of  action  within  'allied'  craft  organizations. 

"This  declaration  was  no  new  departure  for  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor ;  it  was  simply  the  assertion  of  the  true  trade 
union  attitude  which  recognizes  the  historic  and  natural  develop- 
ment of  the  labor  movement ;  that  is,  the  movement  of  the  wage 
earners,  discontented  with  their  existing  wrongs  and  determined 
to  right  them. 

"It  is  the  crystallized,  associated,  conscious  effort  to  prepare 
for  and  meet  new  conditions  as  they  arise  and  deal  with  them 
practically  and  effectively.  That  is  the  policy,  the  law  of  growth 
and  development  of  the  intelligent  and  progressive  trade  union 
movement  as  understood,  advocated,  and  practised  by  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor. 

"It  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  that  Secretary  Haywood,  of 
the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  has  issued  a  circular  letter  to 
the  editors  of  the  labor  press  of  the  country  asking  for  the  lists 
of  the  names  and  addresses  of  subscribers,  saying  they  are  to  be 
used  to  send  copies  of  the  circular  call  for  this  congress — the  con- 
gress aimed  to  destroy  the  trade  union  movement.  Apart  from 
the  perfidy  of  purpose  and  the  supreme  gall  in  making  the  request. 
it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  a  few  months  ago  the  Western  Fed- 
eration of  Miners  frantically  appealed  to  all  trade  unionists  for 
financial  assistance.  The  American  Federation  of  Labor  issued 
an  appeal  in  their  behalf.  Thousands  upon  thousands  of  dollars 
were  contributed  bv  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  unions 


44 

and  accepted  by  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners.  They  are  still 
appealing  for  and  receiving  the  moneys  of  our  unions. 

"The  expense  involved  in  printing,  addressing,  and  postage 
on  the  circular  Secretary  Haywood  contemplates  sending  to  all 
the  labor  press  subscribers  would  amount  to  several  thousand  dol- 
lars. How  about  this  sudden  affluence?  From  whence  does  it 
come?  Is  the  money  received  from  the  American  trade  unionists 
and  contributed  for  the  defense  of  Colorado's  workmen's  rights 
now  being  used  in  the  effort  to  disrupt  the  trade  union  movement  ? 

"The  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  called  into  being  in 
1 88 1  out  of  the  fragmentary,  disconnected  organizations  of  the 
day.  It  has  had  a  continuous  growth  from  that  day  to  this.  Its 
work  and  its  history  have  been  the  organizing  of  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  unions.  It  has  urited  and  federated  them  until  the 
spirit  of  fraternity  and  solidarity  is  recognized  among  the  toilers 
and  thinkers  of  the  world.  It  has  become  a  potent  force  in  the 
affairs  of  our  time.  It  is  both  feared  and  respected.  It  has  de- 
served and  earned  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  wage  earn- 
ers and  the  people  generally.  It  is  the  first  general  labor  move- 
ment that  has  existed  in  America  for  any  considerable  period  of 
time,  and,  more  than  all  other  factors  combined,  it  has  made  the 
world  of  workers  regard  each  other  as  brothers  in  the  common 
cause  for  justice  and  right. 

"This  great  work,  these  great  achievements,  the  splendid 
future  and  possibilities,  are  sought  to  be  destroyed  by  men  who 
mask  as  the  friends  of  labor."  .  .  . 

Editorial,  "American  Federationist"  July,  1005. 
(Under  heading  of  "  'Tis  Treason,  Gentlemen.") 
.     .     .     The  official  journals  of  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  the  'American  Labor  Union,'  and  the  'Socialist  Review,' 
and  all  other  Socialist  publications,  are  virulent  in  their  malicious 
abuse  of  the  active  trade  unionists,  professing  friendship  for  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  yet  proposing  to  supplant  it 
by  the  call  they  have  issued. 

"The  American  Federation  of  Labor,  since  its  existence,  has 
never  been  guilty  of  a  single  hostile  or  indifferent  act  toward 
any  bona  fide  labor  organization  of  this  or  any  other  country,  nor 
has  it  been  indifferent  to  any  effort  for  the  protection  or  the  up- 
lifting of  the  workers,  whether  of  an  affiliated  or  unaffiliated 


45 

organization.  It  has  helped  all.  and  to  the  fullest  limit  of  its  abil- 
ities and  opportunities.  That  it  did  not  go  further  in  that  assist- 
ance is  no  fault  of  its  own.  It  is  due  entirely  to  the  organizations 
themselves.  With  the  growth. and  development  of  the  organiza- 
tions it  has  been  in  a  better  position  to  render  effective  services. 
It  has  done  so  under  all  and  every  circumstance,  and  will  continue 
so,  and  better  still,  as  the  spirit  of  unity,  solidarity  and  fraternity 
manifests  itself  more  clearly  among  all. 

'  .  .  .  To  all  enemies  of  our  movement,  and  particularly 
those  who  lay  claim  to  the  name  of  being  friends  of  labor,  we 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that,  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
war.  among  those  who  believed  in  the  right  of  any  State  to  secede 
from  the  United  States  was  General  Thomas,  but  when  Fort 
Sumter  was  fired  upon  he  solemnly  declared,  'This  is  treason, 
gentlemen;  it  is  treason,'*  and  so  say  we,  that  though  there  w?s 
nothing  but  the  kindliest  feeling  for  organizations,  though  unaffili- 
ated  to  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  always  hoping  and 
working  to  the  end  that  time  and  reason  would  make  the  unaffili- 
ated  unions  converts  to  federation,  but — 

"\YlIEX  AXV  MAX  OR  SET  OF  MEX  MASK  BEHIND  THE  PRETENSE 
OF  FRIENDSHIP  FOR  LABOR,  THEN  ATTEMPTS  TO  UNDERMINE  OR  TO 
OPEX  FIRE  UPON  THE  MOST  SUCCESSFUL  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION  OF 
LABOR  THAT  THE  WORLD  HAS  YET  SEEN,  THE  AMERICAN  FEDERA- 
TION OF  LABOR,  WE  SAY, 

"'Tnis  is  TREASON,  GENTLEMEN;  IT  is  TREASON/'" 

Article  b\  John  B.  Lcnnon,  "American   Fedcrationist,"  August, 

1905: 

*  .  Speaking  first  for  my  own  craft,  I  want  to  say  that 

the  American  Labor  Union,  at  that  time  under  a  different  title, 
almost  in  the  inception  of  its  history  attacked  the  Journeymen 
Tailors  in  the  most  direct  and  flagrant  way,  and  issued  to  tailors  in 
Leadville  a  label  that  was  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  label  of  our 
union  which  had  been  established  for  years.  It  took  a  long  time 
and  a  very  persistent  effort  on  my  part  to  induce  that  organiza- 
tion to  recede  from  its  position  and  to  withdraw  its  label  from  a 
jurisdiction  that  had  been  covered  by  our  international  union  for 
a  great  number  of  years. 

"It  is  incomprehensible  how  a  journeyman  tailor,  a  member  of 


46 

the  Journeymen  Tailors'  Union  of  America,  can  be  in  sympathy 
with  an  organization  and  with  the  efforts  of  that  organization  that 
began  its  career  with  an  attempt  to  injure  the  membership  of  our 
international." 

Editorial  by  Samuel  Campers  in  the  "American  Federationist," 

August,  1905 : 

(Under  heading  of  "Those  'World  Redeemers'  at  Chicago— Their 

Plight.") 

"The  fame  of  the  three  tailors  of  Tooley  Street,  London,  who 
issued  a  proclamation  in  the  name  of  'We,  the  people  of  England,' 
has  lived  for  over  three  hundred  years.  Alas !  they  have  now 
been  outdone  and  will  henceforth  be  supplanted  by  the  famous 
(or  otherwise)  gathering  held  at  Chicago  a  few  weeks  ago.  These 
later-day  bombasts  did  not  presume  to  speak  or  proclaim  for  the 
people  of  Chicago ;  not  merely  for  the  United  States ;  aye,  not 
even  for  the  continent  of  America;  these  were  too  small  and  cir- 
cumscribed for  their  pretensions  and  imaginations.  They  must 
needs  speak  in  the  name  of  the  workers  of  the  world. 

"And  after  an  effort  of  more  than  six  months,  the  issuance 
and  distribution  of  tons  upon  tons  of  circulars  and  'literature' 
throughout  America  and  ever^  other  country  of  the  globe  (the 
expense  borne  from  the  money  contributed  by  the  American  trade 
unionists,,  which  has  been  diverted  from  the  legitimate  purpose 
for  which  the  American  workmen  made  such  contributions), 
what  was  the  result?  The  mountain  labored  and  brought  forth  a 
mouse,  and  a  very  silly  little  mouse  at  that. 

''  .  The  hodge-podge  which  met  at  Chicago  and 

doomed  the  American  trade  union  movement  to  destruction  placed 
themselves  in  a  worse  plight  than  did  Don  Quixote  in  his  contest 
with  the  windmills."  .  .  . 

Committee  on  President's  Report,  American  Federation  of  Labor 
convention  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  November,  1905: 

'  .  .  .  Your  committee  reports  that  it  has  examined  with 
care  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  of  the  Western  Federation 
of  Miners  submitted  to  it,  and  also  the  advance  sheets  of  a  reply 
made  in  the  current  number  of  the  official  journal  of  the  Western 
Federation  of  Miners  to  that  portion  of  President  Gompers'  report 
bearing  upon  the  disposition  of  the  funds  contributed  by  the  Am* 


47 

erican  Federation  of  Labor  unions  to  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners.  Neither  from  the  printed  proceedings  nor  from  the  state- 
ments contained  in  the  address  of  Messrs.  Moyer  and  Hay  wood 
do  we  find  sufficient  reasons  for  changing  our  original  recom- 
mendation, that  in  justice  to  all  concerned  an  accounting  should 
be  given  our  Executive  Council  as  to  what  portion  of  the  very 
large  amount  contributed  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
unions  from  the  time  the  circular  was  issued  (June  9,  1904,  to 
March,  1905),  for  the  defense  of  the  legal  rights  of  trade  union- 
ists has  been  applied  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  donated. 

"Andrew  Furuseth,  Chairman;  Frank  K.  Foster,  Secretary; 
Collis  Lovely,  Thomas  F.  Tracy,  James  A.  Creamer,  John  P. 
Frey,  John  S,  Henry,  James  Wilson,  George  F.  Dunn,  P.  H. 
Sweet,  John  A.  Powell,  Committee."  .  .  . 

In  the  discussion  of  thi£  report,  Delegate  W.  B.  Wilson,  United 
Mine  Workers,  said:  "When  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
issued  an  appeal  for  aid  in  an  effort  to  inaugurate  the  eight-hour 
movement,  and  from  that  time  on  until  their  most  recent  report, 
the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  through  its  various  unions, 
contributed  over  $27,000  towards  that  campaign,  nearly  twenty- 
four  per  cent,  of  the  entire  contributions.  .  .  .  We  find  them 
using  their  official  order  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  the  confi- 
dence of  our  members  in  the  officers  of  our  organization,  yet  at 
the  Boston  convention  the  man  who  drafted  the  resolution  that 
donated  to  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  the  one  thousand 
dollars  that  was  contributed  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
at  that  time  was  John  Mitchell.  In  spite  of  that  fact  there  has 
never  been  a  more  kindly  expression  used  towards  him  in  their 
official  organ  than  'fakir'  and  'fraud.' 

"We  ought  to  have  an  accounting;  we  are  entitled  to  an  ac- 
counting. If  that  money  has  not  been  used  against  us,  as  we  are 
led  to  believe  it  has  been,  we  ought  to  know  it.  If  it  has  been 
used  against  us,  we  ought  to  know  it  also."  .  .  . 

lira  supplement  of  the  Western  Federation  "Miners'  Maga- 
zine!' January  19,  1905,  Wm.  D.  Haywood,  Secretary,  gave  a  list 
of  the  contributions  to  his  union's  defense  fund  in  1904.  Sum- 
mary :  Donations  from  unions  and  all  other  sources  (not  includ- 
ing Western  Federation  of  Miners'  funds)  $182,638.05.  Total 
disbursements,  1904,  $435,886.32." 


43 

Editorial,  "American  I*cdcrationist."  January,  1906: 
(Under  heading  of  "Abuse  Instead  of  an  Accounting.") 
"The  officers  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  are  evi- 
dently following  the  well-known  practice  of  lawyers  having  a  bad 
case  at  bar,  that  is,  to  abuse  the  other  side.  In  the  issue  of 
their  official  paper  of  November  23,  1905,  they  devote  nearly  ten 
pages  to  abuse  and  attacks  upon  the  President  *of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  And  all  this  because  the  latter,  with  the 
Executive  Council  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  re- 
ported to  the  Pittsburg  convention  a  recommendation  that  the 
officers  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  be  required  to  give 
an  accounting  of  the  money  received  from  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  trade  unions,  so  as  to  show  whether  this  money 
was  devoted  to  the  legal  defense  of  the  outraged  constitutional, 
natural,  and  human  rights  of  the  miners  of  Colorado,  carrying  the 
contest,  if  necessary,  to  the  highest  courts  of  the  United  States ; 
or  whether,  as  has  been  frequently  asserted,  these  funds  were 
used  to  bring  into  existence  an  organization  having  for  its  avowed 
purpose  the  destruction  of  the  very  unions  making  the  financial 
contributions. 

"The  report  of  the  officers  of  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  which  was  sent  to  the  convention,  and  which  purported  to 
give  the  moneys  received  and  expended,  contained  not  one  word 
or  figure  which  could  be  gleaned  as  indicating  that  these  moneys 
were  used  for  the  legal  defense  of  the  miners,  as  contemplated 
by  the  circular  issued  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and 
in  response  to  which  the  unions  contributed. 

"The  recommendations  of  both  the  Executive  Council  and  the 
President  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  to  the  Pittsburg 
convention  were  calm  and  deliberate  statements,  to  which  sincere 
and  honest  men  should  not  have  objected.  The  officers  of  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners  sent  a  telegram  to  the  convention 
stating  that  they  had  mailed  an  exhaustive  reply  to  what  they 
saw  fit  to  regard  as  an  attack,  and  the  convention  deferred  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  until  the  so-called  reply  was  received. 
This  reply  consisted  of  the  advance  sheets  of  a  ten-pa^e  document 
entitled:  'Answer  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  to  Samuel 
Gompers.'  It  was  turned  over  to  the  committee  having  the  entire 
subject-matter  in  charge.  Copies  of  it  were  forwarded  by  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners'  officers  to  the  delegates  to  the 


49 

Pittsburg  convention  who  were  in  political  sympathy  with  them. 
The  entire  question  at  issue  was  deferred,  so  that  all  might  have 
a  full  and  free  opportunity  to  judge  as  to  whether  the  request  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor's  officers  for  an  accounting 
was  justified  or  otherwise.  For  a  better  understanding  of  this 
entire  matter,  we  quote  herewith  the  unanimous  report  of  the  com- 
mittee having  the  subject  in  charge : 

"  'Considering  that  portion  of  the  Executive  Council's  report 
bearing  on  this  subject — which  was  referred  to  this  committee — 
jointly  with  the  President's  report,  we  desire  to  say  that  we  ap- 
prove "definitely  and  without  equivocation,"  the  policy  pursued 
as  to  the  contributions  received  for  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners.  We  further  recommend  that  the  Executive  Committee 
be  instructed  to-  insist  that  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners 
shall  either  carry  out  the  purpose  for  which  such  financial  aid  was 
contributed,  i.  e.,  carrying  to  the  highest  courts  the  cases  involved, 
or  give  to  the  Executive  Committee  an  accounting  of  what  was 
done  with  the  money.'  ' 

The  accounting  for  the  eight-hour  contributions  by  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor  to  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  was 
never  made.  Next  came  contributions  to  the  defense  of  the  West- 
ern Federation  of  Miners'  indicted  officials. 

Letter  written   by  Samuel  Goinpcrs  to  Ernest  Bohm,  Secretary 
Central  Federated  Union,  Nezv  York  City,  January  30,  1907: 

'  .  .  .  In  connection  with  your  inquiry  I  beg  to  say  that 
it  is  the  determination  of  the  Executive  Council  to  do  anything 
and  everything  that  it  can  to  be  helpful  to  Messrs.  Mover,  Hay- 
wood  and  Pettibone. 

'  .     .     .     In  my  report  to  the  convention,  I  felt  impelled  to 

say;< 

'  'It  becomes  my  duty  to  refer  to  a  great  travesty  upon  justice 
toward  Messrs.  Mover,  Haywood  and  Pettibone,  president,  secre- 
tary and  executive  board  member  of  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  who,  without  an  opportunity  for  defense  in  the  courts 
of  the  State  of  Colorado,  were  practically  kidnapped  from  that 
State  and  taken  to  Idaho  upon  the  charge  of  complicity  in  the  kill- 
ing of  ex-Governor  Steunenberg,  of  Idaho. 

'  ...     It  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  recite  the  practice  In 


50 

criminal  cases  where  a  person  charged  with  crime  escapes  to  or 
resides  in  another  State. 

"  'The  Governor  of  the  State  in  which  the  alleged  crime  has 
been  committed  may  make  demand  upon  the  Governor  of  the  State 
in  which  the  person  charged  with  the  crime  is  located  for  the 
surrender  of  the  person  so  charged. 

"  'That  the  person  demanded  has  always  been  accorded  the 
right  to  be  heard  before  such  demand  or  requisition  has  been 
complied  with,  and  that  he  or  others  in  his  behalf  may  obtain  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  by  which  the  courts  of  the  State  may  hear, 
review  and  determine : 

'  'Whether  the  requisition  papers  are  ample  or  authentic ; 

'  'Whether  the  grounds  of  complaint  are  sufficient ; 

'  'Whether  there  exists  an  illegal  or  improper  design,  under 
the  forms  of  law,  to  take  a  citizen  away  from  his  home  and  from 
his  State,  and  to  take  him  to  a  foreign  State  for  an  ulterior  pur- 
pose. 

"  'All  these  safeguards  guaranteed  by  law  were  flagrantly 
disregarded,  and  Moyer,  Haywood  and  Pettibone  were  surren- 
dered without  a  moment's  preparation  or  opportunity  to  avail 
themselves  of  their  lawful  rights  and  railroaded  to  an  Idaho 
prison. 

'  .  .  .  The  entire  proceedings  in  this  case  thus  far  have 
been  characterized  by  high-handed  outrage  and  violation  of  the 
constitutional  and  statutory  guarantees,  and  are  repugnant  to  the 
conception  of  human  justice  as  understood  and  accepted  by  our 
American  life,  our  American  manhood,  since  the  foundation  of 
our  republic.' 

*'."..  The  Executive  Council  has  given  this  matter  much 
thought,  will  perform  its  whole  duty  in  the  premises  to  aid  in 
protecting  the  rights  to  which  the  men  are  entitled,  and  aid  them 
to  the  fullest. 

I  am  sure  that  I  convey  the  sentiments  and  views 
of  the  Executive  Council  when  I  state  that  everything  within  our 
power  that  can  be  done  will  be  done  to  protect  these  men,  and  this 
too,  whether  a  general  convention  be  called  or  not."  .  .  . 

Letter  written  by  John  Fitspatrick,  President  Chicago  Federation 

of  Labor,  September  9,   1907: 

'  .  .  .  I  was  present  in  the  Brings  House  when  Haywood 
told  Mitchell  that  he  (Haywood)  would  like  to  see  the  Western 


and  the  United  Mine  Workers  amalgamated,  and  I  heard  Mitchell 
reply  that  they  could  not  amalgamate,  and  I  take  it  from  that, 
that  Mitchell  would  favor  the  issuance  of  a  charter  to  the  West- 
ern Federation  if  the  Western"  Federation  would  make  applica- 
tion. Now,  what  I  want  to  know  is,  if  the  Western  Federation 
would  make  application  for  a  charter  to  the  A.  F.  of  L.  and  the 
Executive  Council  issued  such  charter,  would  the  Western  Feder-. 
ation  have  the  same  rights  and  privileges  under  that  charter  as  the 
United  Mine  Workers  have  under  theirs?  .  .  ." 

Samuel  Gompcrs'  reply,  September  14,  1907: 
"In  regard  to  the  inquiry  relative  to  the  Western  Federation 
of  Miners  making  application  to  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  for  charter  and  conditions  upon  which  it  would  be  issued, 
let  me  say  that  I  reported,  to  the  Executive  Council  at  its  recent 
meeting  the  gist  of  the  conversation  had  between  Mr.  Haywood, 
Secretary  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners,  and  myself,  in 
the  presence  of  you  and  many  other  representative  labor  men. 
and  it  was  the  consensus  of  opinion  that  at  the  appropriate  time 
a  letter  should  be  addressed  to  the  officers  of  that  organization 
for  the  purpose  of  its  affiliation.  You  are  no  doubt  aware  of  the 
fact  that  I  have  several  times  written  to  the  conventions  of  the 
Western  Federation  of  Miners  and  have  delegated  representative 
men  in  the  labor  movement  to  address  the  conventions  upon  the 
subject  of  re-affiliation.  The  fact  that  re-affiliation  was  declined 
by  them  did  not  deter  me  from  making  frequent  efforts  to  accom- 
plish that  result,  and  you  may  rest  assured  that  I  shall  not  relax 
in  my  effort  now  or  in  the  future."  .  .  . 

The  annual  financial  reports  of  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners  for  1906,  1907,  and  1908,  show  the  amount  contributed  to 
the  Moyer-Pettibone-Haywood  defense  fund  in  those  years. 

From  April  i,  1906,  to  April  i,  1907,  the  total  was  $79,516.10. 
Among  many  sums  contributed  by  A.  F.  of  L.  unions  were 
$10,000,  in  two  appropriations,  by  the  United  Mine  Workers,  and 
two  appropriations  of  $500  each  by  sub-districts  of  the  same 
union.  The  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  gave  $T,OOO. 
From  April  i,  1907,  to  April  i,  1908,  the  total  amount  contrib- 
uted to  the  defense  fund  was  $71,180.47.  Toward  this  the  United 
Mine  Workers  gave  amounts  such  as  $500,  La  Salle,  111.,  Sub- 
district  No.  2;  $  i, ooo?  Petersburg-,  Kans.,  Sub-district  No.  14; 


52 

$3,000,  Oskaloosa,  Iowa,  Sub-district  No.  13.  The  United  Hatters 
gave  $1,000,  the  Railroad  Trainmen  $500,  the  Brotherhood  of 
Carpenters  and  Joiners  $500.  The  Cigar  Makers'  International 
Union  imposed  on  its  members  an  assessment  of  fifteen  cents, 
amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars. 

From  the  foregoing  records  the  reader  may  decide  whether 
or  not  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  lived  up  to  its  pro- 
fessions of  a  consistent,  fair-minded,  and  generous  trade  unionism. 
The  reader  may  also  therein  see  the  character  of  the  Western  Fed- 
eration of  Miners  while  under  the  domination  of  Socialism. 


53 


A  RECORD  OF  SOCIALIST  ATTACKS  ON  TRADE 
UNIONISM. 


(THE  EVIDENCE  DRAWN  MAINLY  FROM  UNIONIST  AND  SOCIALIST 
NEWSPAPER  ORGANS.) 

I.— THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  SOCIALIST  TRADE  AND 
LABOR   ALLIANCE— 1896-1903. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  April,  1896.) 

We  note,  however,  recently  that  the  work  of  union  wrecking 
is  being  taken  up  by  a  wing  of  the  so-called  Socialist  Party  of 
Xew  York  headed  by  a  professor  without  a  professorship,  a  shy- 
ster lawyer  without  a  brief,  and  a  statistician  who  furnished  fig- 
ures to  the  Republican,  Democratic  and  Socialist  parties.  These 
three  mountebanks,  aided  by  a  few  unthinking  but  duped  workers, 
recently  launched,  from  a  beer  saloon,  a  brand  new  national  organ- 
ization, with  the  avowed  purpose  of  crushing  every  trade  union  in 
the  country.' 

In  following  out  their  programme  of  destruction  they  have  at- 
tacked first  one  union,  then  another.  Nothing  was  sacred. 
Achievements  or  failure;  fair  conditions  or  foul;  everything  was 
alike,  so  long  as  they  could  either  rule  the  union  or  crush  it.  The 
fact  that  the  workers  would  become  an  easy  prey  to  the  chicanery 
and  greed  of  the  capitalist  was  nothing  to  these  union  wreckers. 

The  carpenters,  painters,  bakers,  tailors,  machinists,  and 
others  too  numerous  to  mention,  were  each  of  them  in  turn  made 
to  feel  the  foul  hand  of  these  monumental  fools  or  paid  hirelings. 

The  latest  effort  of  these  New  York  Socialists,  or  so-called 
Socialists,  is  directed  against  the  national  union  of  garment 
workers. 

As  we  are  writing  this  article  we  are  in  receipt  of  a  letter 
from  one  of  our  best  known  and  earnest  labor  men,  a  man  who 
has  been  a  Socialist  for  years.  It  describes  the  situation  so  accu- 
rately that  we  take  the  following  extract  from  it.  He  says: 

"These  Socialists,  known  as  sectionists  in   New  York,  have 


54 

almost  knocked  all  so-called  radical  ideas  out  of  my  cranium.  I 
consider  them  to  be  destructionists  in  the  labor  movement.  Why, 
for  the  sake  of  their  agitation,  they  would  destroy  labor's  greatest 
weapon — the  trade  union — and  in  all  their  work  I  can't  for  the 
life  of  me  see  where  they  have  bettered  the  condition  of  one  soli- 
tary man,  woman  or  child.  Hereafter  I  will  follow  the  line  of 
pure  trade  unionism,  and  that  is  to  organize,  fraternize  and  edu- 
cate the  workers.  I  consider  the  Socialists  of  New  York  the 
most  damnable,  diabolical  set  of  schemers  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  'By  their  works  shall  ye  know  them,'  and  what  is  their 
work?  To  assist  the  plutocrats,  to  forge  the  chain  of  the  wage 
slave  more  compact,  and  thereby  degrade  the  toilers.  A  man  must 
come  in  contact  with  these  fellows  in  order  to  be  able  to  fathom 
them." 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist"  May,  1896.) 

(Under  heading  of  "Habitual  Slanderers  and  Union  Wreckers  as 
Labor's  Friends.") 

Instead  of  certain  political  leaders,  Socialists  of  New  York, 
spreading  their  gospel  and  orthodox  doctrines  of  social  regenera- 
tion through  educational  and  conciliatory  methods,  these  apostles, 
like  those  of  Mahomet,  believe  in  putting  all  infidels  to  the  sword, 
after  the  manner  in  vogue  in  Armenia.  The  ends-  justify  the 
means.  They  plot  and  scheme  in  the  name  of  their  prophet  (with 
a  hidden  past)  to  destroy  the  only  means  available  for  the  toilers 
to  unite  in  order  to  save  themselves  from  utter  degradation,  for 
immediate  protection  and  further  advancement — the  trade  .union. 

The  self-styled  "new  trade  unionists"  and  professional  wreck- 
ers who  have  been  endeavoring  to  destroy  our  national  union  ever 
since  its  foundation,  because  the  general  officers  refused  to  be  pli- 
ant political  tools  and  dance  to  their  music,  continue  to  howl  "Stop 
thief,"  and  hope  that  by  throwing  sufficient  mud  some  of  it  will 
stick. 

A  youthful  national  organization  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
United  Garment  Workers  of  America  is  certainly  far  from  being 
perfect,  and  it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  pick  flaws  and  thereby 
raise  a  general  cry  of  wholesale  corruption.  This  is  the  sort  of 
work  these  "new  trade  union"  journals  in  New  York  are  at  pres- 
ent engaged  in,  and  have  lately  caused  a  secession  of  a  corporal's 
guard  from  the  Brotherhood  of  Tailors.  These  secessionists, 


who  were  on  the  eve  of  being  expelled  for  slander  and  libel,  have 
exposed  their  purpose  and  shown  their  "new  trade  unionism"  by 
promptly  filling-  several  shops  in  which  a  strike  is  in  progress 
against  the  restoration  of  "task1"  or  "piece  work,"  and  the  length- 
ening of  the  workday  to  eleven  and  twelve  hours — two  note- 
worthy instances  being  in  the  shops  of  B.  Stern  &  Sons  and  Mor- 
ris Benjamin.  This  brand  new  brotherhood  has  also  issued  a  cir- 
cular to  every  local  calling  upon  members  to  secede,  and  thrust 
out  the  only  ladder  which  can  lead  to  a  greater  future  from  under 
them,  and  thereby  place  the  members  at  the  mercy  of  the  em- 
ployer. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  June,  1896.) 
The  Socialist  party  organ  of  New  York  cannot  help  making 
itself  ridiculous  in  its  atterjipt  to  belittle  the  efforts  of  American- 
trade  unions.  Frank  Valesh,  who  wrote  a  letter  from  Europe 
showing  the  low  wages  existing  among  the  cigarmakers  employed 
in  the  French  governmental  monopoly  of  that  trade,  was  taken  as 
the  theme.  The  wages  prevailing  in  the  cigar  trade  in  Bingham- 
ton.  Xew  York,  the  cheapest  district  of  America,  was  taken  as  a 
criterion  of  the  wages  paid  to  cigarmakers  in  the  United  States. 
The  effort  is  made  to  show  that  in  spite  of  the  existence  of  the 
trade  union,  wages  of  the  cigarmakers  of  France  are  as  high,  if 
not  higher,  than  those  of  America.  Wonder  whether  these  people 
will  ever  learn  anything,  and,  if  learning,  will  be  honest  enough 
to  proclaim  or  admit  it . 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  June,  1896.) 
A  sample  of  the  truth  the  New  York  Socialist  party  organ  is 
capable  of  expressing  is  afforded  in  this :  It  savs  that  the  Cigar- 
makers'  International  Union  is  "virtually  defunct,"  when,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  on  January  i,  1896,  the  organization  had  $236,- 
203.05  in  its  treasury  and  27,760  members.  And  this,  too,  after  a 
most  severe  year  of  trade  stagnation,  during  which  $491,742 
were  expended  for  strike,  sick,  death  and  out-of-work  benefits. 
This  same  paper  says  that  the  cigarmakers  are  "taxed  out  of  their 
boots,"  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  an  assessment  of  $i,  just  levied, 
is  the  first  of  its  kind  in  more  than  ten  years. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist''  July,  1896.) 
It  has  come  to  pass  sooner  than  we  anticipated,  for  it  may 


56 

now  be  safely  asserted  that  Professor  ( ?)  Daniel  DeLeon,  alias 
Loeb,  has  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Professor  Garside,  and  is 
the  paid  hireling  of  the  Pinkerton  agency. 

The  Cigarmakers'  International  Union  will  endure  long  after 
its  libelers  and  detractors  have  passed  the  rubicon  of  this  life. 
It  will  live  to  fight,  and  fight  the  battles  of  the  trade  for  the  up- 
building of  the  organization,  the  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
its  workers;  and  will  be  found  struggling  and  conquering,  shoul- 
der to  shoulder  with  the  advance  guard  of  the  trade  unions  of 
America,  no\v  and  evermore,  until  the  dawn  of  emancipation  day. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  July,  1896.) 
With  the  general  introduction  of  the  typesetting  machine  in 
the  newspaper  offices,  the  employers  usually  give  union  printers 
the  first  opportunity  of  employment.  The  union  establishes  differ- 
ent scales  of  wages  for  the  ability  of  the  workman  to  perform 
the  duties  required.  The  "New  York  V olkszeitung,"  the  Social- 
ist organ,  however,  has  discharged  all  old  employes  who  failed 
to  come  up  to  the  highest  notch  of  composition  on  the  machine; 
and  still  these  people  proclaim  themselves  friends  of  labor.  .  .  . 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  July,  1896.) 
The  industrial  field  is  littered  with  more  corpses  of  organiza- 
tions destroyed  by  the  damning  influences  of  partisan  political 
action  than  from  all  other  causes  combined.  Nor  must  it  be  at 
all  lost  sight  of  that  this  does  not  only  apply  to  local  or  national 
trade  unions,  but  also  to  previous  efforts  of  labor  at  national  fed- 
eration. The  National  Labor  Union,  in  its  time  a  great  federa- 
tion, after  it  committed  itself  to  political  partisan  action,  went  to 
the  limbo  of  movements  which  no  longer  moved.  After  that  act 
it  acted  no  more.  No  convention  of  that  organization  was  ever 
after  held. 

In  the  light  of  that  experience,  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  has  always  declared  and  maintained  that  the  unions  of  labor 
are  above,  and  should  be  beyond,  the  power  and  influences  of 
political  parties.  It  was  with  these  great  object  lessons  still  dang- 
ling before  our  vision  .  .  .  that  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  at  its  last  convention  resolved  that — 

"Party  politics,  whether  they  be  Democratic,  Republican,  So- 
cialistic, Populistic,  Prohibition  or  any  other,  shall  have  no  place 
in  the  conventions  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor." 


57 

(Editorial.   "American  Federationist"  November,    1896.) 

For  more  than  two  years  a  rancorous  division  in  the  ranks  of 
organized  labor  has  existed  in  the  city  of  Chicago.  It  is  not  our 
purpose  here  to  refer  to  the  causes  which  have  brought  about  a 
condition  of  affairs  which  all  sincere  labor  men  deplore.  .  .  . 

One  thing  is  certain — if  those  who  favor  unity  and  desire  the 
exclusion  of  disturbing  elements,  yet  do  not  participate  in  the 
effort,  the  very  opposite  of  their  desires  and  purposes  may  occur. 
If  we  want  unity  and  harmony  in  our  movement,  if  we  wan£  to 
keep  it  clean  cut  and  clear  from  the  factors  which  have  done  so 
much  to  injure  it,  our  duty  to  our  workers,  consistency  with  our 
declarations  and  conformity  with  our  honest  purposes  demand 
that  all  true  and  bona  fide  trade  unions  of  Chicago  should  be  repre- 
sented at  the  meeting  November  9. 

i 

(Editorial,   "American  Federationist,"  November,   1896.) 

When  the  delegates  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  to 
the  Cardiff  Congress  of  the  British  Trade  Unions  made  their  re- 
port to  the  New  York  Convention  relative  to  the  practical  dis- 
avowal of  the  resolution  declaring  for  the  nationalization  of  all 
the  means  of  production  and  distribution  by  the  Norwich  Con- 
gress, doubt  was  expressed  and  the  delegates  criticised  by  some, 
yet,  at  the  recent  Edinburgh  Congress,  this  was  emphasized  by  the 
adoption  of  a  resolution,  which  the  chairman,  before  placing  it, 
ruled  would  in  effect  rescind  the  resolution  of  the  Norwich 
Congress,  and  "take  its  place."  Perhaps  our  friends  will  now  be 
better  satisfied  that  our  delegates  reported  truthfully. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  August,  1897.) 

If  Professor  ( ?)  DeLeon,  alias  Loeb,  leader  of  the  Socialistic 
Labor  Party  and  editor  of  its  official  organ,  is  not  a  paid  agent 
of  the  mine  operators  and  the  money  power  generally  he  has  cer- 
tainly missed  his  calling.  There  is  not  an  effort  or  a  struggle 
made  by  the  organized  or  unorganized  workingmen  of  the  country 
for  some  degree  of  justice  which  he  not  merelv  opposes  but  de- 
nounces in  the  most  pronounced  and  malicious  manner;  outdoing 
the  most  pronounced,  open  enemies  of  the  capitalist  press  which 
labor  has.  There  is  not  a  charge  or  insinuation  which  the  skin- 
flint employer,  the  corporation  thug  or  apologist  or  villainous 
newspaper  penny  a  liner  has  launched  against  labor  organizations 


58 

and  their  organizers  which  this  agent  provocateur  has  not  re- 
hashed, embellished  and  served  up  just  at  the  time  when  it  will 
serve  the  interests  of  the  capitalist  class  best.  The  latest  service 
which  this  creature,  masquerading  in  the  garb  of  a  Socialist,  is 
rendering  labor's  enemy,  is  in  the  most  virile  abuse  of  the  men 
placed  in  charge  of  conducting  the  desperate  and  heroic  miners' 
struggle. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  October,  1897.) 

A  call  has  gone  forth  to  the  trade  unions  and  public  for  a 
labor  convention  in  Chicago  next  Monday.  The  ostensible  ob- 
jects are  to  take  measures  in  aid  of  the  miners  on  strike  and  to 
offset  the  sweeping  powers  of  the  courts  in  granting  injunctions 
in  defiance  of  popular  rights  during  labor  disputes.  .  .  . 

We  can  see  no  reason  for  the  labor  convention  at  Chicago  next 
Monday.  We  advise  our  unions  not  to  be  represented  there. 
The  money  it  would  cost  to  send  delegates  had  better  go  to  help 
the  suffering  miners  and  their  families.  It  is  not  by  conventions, 
with  irresponsible  talk,  inflammatory  declamation  and  revolution- 
ary buncombe,  that  the  cause  of  labor  can  be  advanced.  Violent 
appeals  to  the  passions  of  the  multitude  can  serve  no  good  pur- 
pose. It  is  only  by  systematic  organization  of  the  working 
people  in  trade  unions,  with  united  hearts  and  united  funds,  and 
a  fraternity  of  purpose  which  knows  no  bounds  of  creed,  color, 
nationality  or  politics,  that  will  uplift  the  masses. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  November,   1897.) 

Quite  a  number  of  vicious  attacks  have  been  made  upon  the 
trade  unions  and  trade  unionists  of  the  country  in  regard  to  their 
attitude  toward  the  miners  during  the  recent  great  strike.  In 
order  that  the  truth  may  be  fully  known,  and  nothing  confounds 
the  malicious  so  much  as  the  plain,  unadulterated  truth,  the  fol- 
lowing letter  was  written : 

"As  to  your  position,  no  greater  injustice  could  be  perpetrated 
than  to  charge  you  with  heartlessness  and  indifference.  At  the 
very  beginning  you  approved  our  strike,  pledged  your  support  and 
placed  your  services  at  our  disposal,  which  pledges  you  have 
religiously  and  faithfully  executed  to  our  full  satisfaction,  reports 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  M.  D.  RATCHFORD, 

"President,  Mine  Workers." 


59 

This  correspondence  is  given  so  that  those  whose  minds  are 
not  warped  by  prejudice  and  whose  purpose  is  to  build  up,  not 
destroy,  may  know  the  truth. 

(Editorial,  ''American  Federationist"  January,  1898.) 
Yes,  the  editor  of  the  "American  Federationist"  does  know 
that  the"Clevelcmd  Citizen"  its  published  by  the  authority  of  the  Cen- 
tral Labor  Union  of  that  city;  he  knows,  too,  that  the  "Cleveland 
Citizen"  misapprehends  and  misrepresents  the  trade  unions  and 
the  trade  union  movement  of  Cleveland.  He  knows,  for  instance, 
that  nearly  all  the  building  trade  unions  of  Cleveland  are  not  rep- 
resented in  the  Central  Labor  Union  because  of  the  attitude  of 
the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  toward  the  trade  unions.  He  knows  also 
that  between  twenty-five  and  thirty-five  unions  are  unrepresented 
at  tile  C.  L.  U.  weekly  meetings  for  the  same  reasons.  His  know- 
ledge extends  to  the  fact  that  instead  of  being  a  potent  factor,  as 
the  C.  L.  U.  of  Cleveland  at  one  time  was  and  yet  will  be  despite 
the  peculiar  policy  pursued  by  the  "Cleveland  Citizen,"  it  is  now 
comparatively  more  ornamental  than  useful  to  advance  the  real 
interests  of  the  working  people  of  that  city. 

The  editor  of  the  "American  Federationist"  knows  that  when 
the  Brotherhood  of  Carpenters  was  engaged  in  the  effort  to  estab- 
lish the  eight-hour  day  for  its  members  of  Cleveland  the  "Cleve- 
land Citizen"  threw  every  obstacle  in  the  way  to  its  achievement, 
and  that  when  it  was  gained  pooh-poohed  the  result,  ingloriously 
beat  a  retreat  and  by  the  lamest  excuses  sought  to  cover  up  its 
action.  He  knows  that  notwithstanding  an  increase  of  over 
34,000  members  in  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  during  the 
past  year,  the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  falsely  declared  that  the  organ- 
ization was  declining  in  membership.  He  knows  that  when  any 
organization  owing  to  the  great  ordeal  through  which  it  passed 
during  the  past  years  of  industrial  stagnation  was,  for  financial 
reasons,  unable  to  send  a  delegate  to  the  Nashville  Convention, 
the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  maliciously  declared  that  it  was  because 
the  organization  in  question  was  disgusted  with  or  would  with- 
draw from  the  A.  F.  of  L.,  and  that  the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  pub- 
lished bogus  interviews  with  imaginary  "prominent"  trade  union 
officials  with  the  view  of  fomenting  division  and  disruption  in  the 
ranks  of  our  movement. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  editor  of  the  "American  Federationist'' 
knows  that  the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  just  previous  to  and  during 


6o 

the  Nashville  Convention  stooped  so  low  in  filth,  vituperation  and 
malicious  representation  in  regard  to  officials  of  the  A.  F.  of  L. 
as  would  put  a  Tammany  sheet  to  shame  even  during  a  campaign 
for  place  and  boodle.  He  knows  more  as  to  the  makeup  and  pur- 
poses of  the  "Cleveland  Citizen"  than  would  appear  good  (though 
it  might  prove  interesting)  reading  in  cold  type. 

II.— THE  PERIOD  OF  THE  AMERICAN  LABOR  UNION, 

1903-1904. 

("Morning  Call,3'  Paierson,  N.  J.,  July,.    1903.) 

The  fact  that  the  American  Labor  Union  is  coming  into  the 
East  for  a  stronghold  was  mentioned  exclusively  in  yesterday's 
"Call!'  The  news  struck  home  in  several  union  centers.  Since  it 
has  leaked  out  that  such  is  the  case,  other  unions  which  fail  to  get 
proper  recognition  in  the  Federation  talk  of  seceding  in  order  that 
they  may  greet  the  new  union  with  open  arms.  On  good  authoritv 
it  is  given  out  that  leaders  in  union  railway  movements  will  call 
a  meeting  in  several  of  the  largest  cities  in  the  East,  within  a 
short  time.  It  is  considered  that  this  meeting  is  called  for  the 
purpose  of  asking  for  delegates  to  a  big  convention  which  is  to 
be  held  in  Brooklyn.  Eugene  V.  Debs  is  behind  the  whole  plan 
and  has  his  lieutenants  working  under  instructions.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  break  the  back  of  the  Federation.  Once  this  is  done 
those  in  charge  say  the  new  union  will  sweep  the  country. 

(Milwaukee  "Social  Democratic  Herald,"  May  2,  1903.) 

In  the  meantime  E.  E.  Clark  has  been  rewarded  for  his  work 
on  the  Commission  by  receiving  a  fat  governmental  appointment 
in  the  new  Department  of  Commerce.  Query : 

If  he  has  assisted  in  the  gaining  of  so  great  a  victory  for  the 
mine  workers  and  consequent  defeat  for  the  operators,  why  does 
a  government  controlled  by  the  class  to  which  the  operators  be- 
long see  fit  to  reward  him? — "International  Socialist  Rcvieiv." 

("Social  Democratic  Herald"  April  25,   1903.) 

But  we  have  Gompers  at  Washington  now,  and  he  spends 
much  of  his  energy  assuring  the  sleek  plutocratic  legislators  that 
he  is  their  friend  and  that  he  is  serving  them  by  keeping  Social- 
ism down — Socialism,  that  wants  the  workers  to  have  the  wealth 


6i 

they  create !  No,  if  the  workers  want  representatives  in  Congress 
they  will  do  well  to  avoid  leaders  who  have  suspicious  Civic  Fed- 
eration relations  to  Mark  Hanna,  or  who  think  more  of  their  own 
job  of  leadership  than  they  do  of  the  class  interests  of  the  great 
army  of  toil. 

On  Sunday,  November  22,  1903,  the  Fraternal  Delegates 
O'Grady  and  Mullen  made  addresses  at  the  New  York  Central 
Federated  Union,  and  the  result  of  the  address  of  Mr.  O'Grady 
particularly  was  that  the  Central  Federated  Union  appointed  a 
committee  for  the  purpose  of  taking  political  action.  The  com- 
mittee consisted  of  fifteen  members :  five  Democrats,  five  Republi- 
cans and  five  Socialists.  The  "New  York  Volkszcitung"  of  the 
following  day,  Monday,  November  23,  reported  these  proceedings, 
and  also  interviews  with  the  Socialists  who  were  in  attendance  at 
the  C.  F.  U.  meeting  as  to  whether  they  would  be  satisfied  with 
the  independent  political  movement  as  outlined  by  the  motion 
adopted  and  the  division  of  the  committee.  They  answered  em- 
phatically that  they  would  not  be  satisfied,  unless  the  movement 
was  committed  to  and  indorsed  the  platform  of  the  Socialist  party 
clear  through. 

Sunday,  November  29,  1903.  Every  delegate  who  was  ten- 
dered appointment  on  the  committee  above  provided  for  declined 
to  accept.  Then  the  entire  matter  was  reconsidered  and  laid  on 
the  table. 

("Social  Democratic  Herald,"  October   10,   1903.) 

When  President  Roosevelt  returned  from  his  vacation  Tues- 
day he  was  besieged  by  high  officials  of  all  degrees,  but  he  side- 
tracked them  all  to  take  luncheon  with  the  President  of  the  United- 
Mine  Workers  of  America. — Press  report. 

And  the  dispatch  might  have  well  added  that  when  Roosevelt 
was  seen  later  he  had  Mitchell  in  one  pocket  and  Gompers  in  the 
other!  What  a  subject  for  a  cartoon  that  would  make,  to  be  sure! 

("Appeal  to  Reason,"  December  12,  1903.) 

The  slash  in  wages  occurring  all  over  the  country  right  at 
the  time  of  Gompers  and  Mitchell's  convention  in  Boston  shows 
how  much  the  masters  fear  their  organizations  when  led  by  such 
men.  In  an  article  to  the  "Boston  Globe"  of  November  15,  Gqmr 

\ 


62 

pers  says :  "It  is  not  expected  that  the  ideal  union  will  ever  be 
realized."  Then  why  not  strive  for  something  that  can  be  real- 
ized? Vote  the  old  tickets  and  elect  Gompers.  That's  the  stuff. 

(DeLeon's  ''Labor  Library"  May,  1903,  on  the  other  Socialist 

wing. ) 

Like  a  veritable  criminal  the  Social  Democratic  party  traveled 
over  the  country  under  a  number  of  aliases.  In  some  States  it 
called  itself,  "Socialist  party."  In  Massachusetts  its  official  desig- 
nation was  long  "Democratic  Social  party"  until  it  changed  that 
into  "Socialist"  party.  In  Pennsylvania  its  style  was  "Public 
Ownership  party."  In  New  York  it  sails  as  "Social  Democratic 
party."  Of  course,  everywhere  it  pretends  to  be  a  Socialist  party, 
and  aided  by  the  Republican-Democratic  capitalist  press  it  raises 
confusion  everywhere.  True  enough,  nowhere  can  its  defama- 
tions of  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  gain  credence.  But  it  is  equally 
true  that  nowhere  are  the  masses  sufficiently  posted  to  see  through 
the  fraud ;  the  impression  carried  away  by  most  people  is  the 
absurd  one  that  "the  Socialists  are  divided" ;  discouragement  is 
thus  created,  and  the  masses  that  would  otherwise  be  moving  to-  • 
ward  and  entering  within  the  Socialist  Labor  Party  are  scattered 
to  the  four  winds — and  that  was  the  purpose  back  of  the  launch- 
ing of  the  Social  Democratic  party;  the  labor-fleecing  class,  to- 
gether with  its  lackeys,  the  "Organized  Scabbery,"  breathes 
freer. 

("Western  Federation  of  Miners'  Magazine,"  December  24,  '037)^ 

Tames  Sheenan  of  the  Milwaukee  Trades  Council  has  had  his 
eyes  opened  \vhile  in  attendance  at  the  convention  of  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Labor  in  Boston.  The  gentleman,  after  return- 
ing home,  gave  utterance  to  the  following  language : 

"I  went  to  the  convention  with  the  impression  that  I  knew  all 
about  the  labor  movement,"  said  Comrade  Sheenan,  "and  it  took 
me  about  two  days  to  find  out  that  I  knew  scarcely  anything  about 
it.  From  the  head  down  the  Federation  is  conducted  in  an  aristo- 
cratic wav,  and  the  heads  are  certainly  a  polished  set  of  politicians. 
And  they  smile  when  you  speak  to  them  of  industrialism. 
They  don't  favor  it;  they  don't  want  these  quarrels  stopped.  It 
doesn't  bother  them  any,  but  they  want  us  of  the  rank  and  file  to 
keep  quarreling  over  them.  But  the  tactics  they  are  pursuing  are 


63 

bound  to  bring  them  to  a  fall  sooner  or  later.  While  the  conven- 
tion was  on,  Mitchell  and  Gompers  and  some  of  the  others  were 
dined  and  wined  at  a  fashionable  club  (which,  by  the  way  is  on 
the  unfair  list  of  the  Boston  Trades  Assembly)  by  President  Eliot 
of  Harvard  University — the  man  who  publicly  said  that  a  scab 
is  a  hero.  The  Socialists  attracted  the  greatest  attention  in  the 
convention.  There  were  eleven  Socialist  resolutions  introduced, 
yet  the  national  unions  are  so  finely  organized  that  they  would  not 
allow  a  Socialist  resolution  to  come  before  the  body.  The  entire 
council  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  were  instantly  on  the  alert  whenever 
anything  Socialistic  was  aimed  at.  When  any  such  thing  came  up 
the  whole  bunch  got  on  its  feet  to  reply,  one  after  another.  They 
did  this  several  times." 

Mr.  Sheenan,  as  well  as  thousands  of  others  in  the  ranks  of 
organized  labor,  will  soon  raise  a  protest  that  will  relegate  the 
fakirs  to  an  infamous  oblivion.  The  rank  and  file,  who  are  the 
blood,  flesh  and  bone  of  organized  labor,  will  not  bear  much  longer 
the  brazen  treason  of  so-called  leaders,  who  dine  at  the  tables  of 
the  rich  and  lock  arms  with  capitalists  and  politicians  who  are 
riveting  the  chains  of  servitude  upon  the  limbs  of  the  toiling  mil- 
lions of  this  country.  Conditions  are  being  created  which  will 
cause  the  mass  to  rise  up  in  rebellion  and  forever  spurn  the  czar- 
ism  of  labor  profligates  who  are  using  the  labor  unions  for  per- 
sonal aggrandizement.  Right  and  justice  will  prevail,  regardless 
of  labor  leader  hypocrites  who  ally  themselves  with  the  common 
enemy  of  all  mankind.  .  . 

("Chicago  Socialist;'  November  28,   1903.) 

The  annual  performance  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
concluded  with  the  usual  farce  of  killing  Socialism,  Samuel  Gom- 
pers being  the  assassin,  and  then  being  glorified  by  re-election 
for  the  ensuing  year.  If  our  comrades  who  happen  to  be  dele- 
gates to  the  annual  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  were  to  abstain  from  introducing  so-called  Socialist  resolu- 
tions, Slippery  Sammy  would  not  be  able  to  perform.  Then  he 
might  not  be  re-elected.  See ! 

("Social  Democratic  Herald,"  November  28,  1903.) 

Gonipers  made  himself  the  laughing  stock  of  the  country  when 
he  declared  at  the  labor  convention  in  Boston  that  the  Socialists 


64 

were  "at  heart  and  logically  antagonistic  to  the  trade  union  move- 
ment,'' and  then  following  this  up  by  claiming  to  be  in  favor  of 
labor  emancipation.  Even  his  friends,  the  Civic  Federationist 
newspapers,  are  demanding  from  what  he  wants  labor  emanci- 
pated. .  .  . 

The  "New  Era"  quotes  Mark  Hanna  with  saying:  "I  have 
joined  hands  with  Mr.  Gompers  to  crush  out  Socialism."  Watch 
the  crush ! 

"Our  Socialist  friends  would  surrender  the  work  that  we  do, 
the  effectual  work  of  bringing  relief  and  remedy  day  after  day, 
for  the  promised  land  of  sweet  by  and  by,"  said  Samuel  Gom- 
pers in  his  speech  against  Socialism  at  the  Boston  convention. 
Saying  which  he  uttered  a  deliberate  falsehood.  But  there  are 
two  things  that  the  Socialists  would  abolish,  to  wit,  the  Civic  Fed- 
eration flirtation  that  certain  leaders  of  unionism  are.  carrying  on 
with  the  Clevelands,  Hannas,  and  the  like,  and  also  the  criminally 
wasteful  and  utterly  ineffectual  labor  leader  lobby  at  Washing- 
ton, in  which  not  a  vestige  of  ground  has  been  gained  in  the  last 
half-dozen  years. 

Hayes'  speech  roused  a  good  deal  of  enthusiasm  and  working 
people  in  the  galleries  joined  in  the  applause,  whereupon  President 
Gompers  had  the  police  drive  them  out  of  the  building.  Besides 
the  main  speech  by  Hayes,  Socialism  was  advocated  by  Delegate 
Kreft  of  the  Philadelphia  Central  Labor  Union;  Delegate  Scherer 
of  the  Bakers'  International  Union;  by  Delegate  Barnes  of  the 
Philadelphia  Cigarmakers ;  by  Delegate  Mikol  of  the  Capmakers ; 
by  Delegate  McLoughlin  of  the  New  Hampshire  State  Federa- 
tion ;  by  Delegate  Wheeler  of  the  Carpenters  of  California ;  by 
Delegate  Hoehn  of  St.  Louis ;  by  Delegate  Keyes  of  the  Ship- 
wrights' Union  of  Michigan;  and  by  Delegates  Lavin,  Slayton, 
Mahoney,  Turner,  Scully,  Carey  and  others.  A  pretty  good  array, 
and  indicative  of  growth.  Gompers,  Mitchell,  Kidd  and  other 
members  of  the  official  board  took  the  floor  in  opposition,  and  the 
roll  call  showed  a  Socialist  strength  of  2,147  votes  to  11,282.  .  .  . 

The  facts  simply  were :  President  Gompers,  in  the  chair,  re- 
peatedly remonstrated  with  a  gallery  packed  by  the  Socialists  for 
applauding  and  hissing.  His  warnings  being  defied,  he  directed 
the  convention's  sergeant-at-arms  to  clear  the  gallery.  The  police 
were  not  called  upon. 


65 

(  /'roni  the  pamphlcl,  "ll'Imf  Means  This  Strike ?"  by  Daniel 

DeLeon.} 
(  t'ndcr  the  heading  of  "The  Work  of  the  Socialist  Trade  and 

Labor  Alliance.'") 

Long  did  the  Socialist  labor  party  and  new  trade  unionists 
seek  to  deliver  this  important  message  to  the  broad  masses  of  the 
American  proletariat,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  working  class.  But 
we  could  not  reach,  we  could  not  get  at  them.  Between  us  and 
them  there  stood  a  solid  wall  of  ignorant,  stupid  and  corrupt  labor 
fakirs.  Like  men  groping  in  a  dark  room-  for  an  exit,  we  moved 
along  that  wall,  bumping  our  heads,  feeling  ever  onwards  for  a 
door;  we  made  the  circuit  and  no  passage  was  found.  The  wall 
was  solid.  The  discovery  once  made,  there  was  no  way  other 
than  to  batter  a  breach  through  that  wall.  With  the  battering  ram 
of  the  Socialist  Trade  and  <Labor  Alliance  we  effected  a  passage ; 
the  wall  now  crumbles ;  at  last  we  stand  face  to  face  with  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  American  proletariat ;  and  we  are  delivering  our 
message — as  you  may  judge  from  the  howl  that  goes  up  from  that 
fakirs'  wall  that  we  have  broken  through. 

("Social  'Democratic  Herald''  July  30,  1904.) 
The  A.  F.  of  L.  plan  is  a  delusion  and  a  snare  and  a  downright 
insult  to  the  toiling  masses  who  make  this  country  great.  At  a 
mask  carnival  in  Milwaukee  some  union  iren  masquerading  as 
the  officers  of  the  Civic  Federation  presented  a  take-off  of  Gom- 
pers  and  there  were  patches  on  his  trousers  w'here  he  had  worn 
them  through  kneeling  before  capitalist  congressmen  imploring 
them  to  grant  an  eight-hour  day ! 

("American  Labor  Union  Journal,''  September,  1904.) 
Why  We  Boycott  the  Label — being  a  calm  statement  of  rea- 
spns  why  members  of  the  American  Labor  L'nion  do  not  patronize 
the  products  of  the  so-called  union  shoe  factories  of  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago,  etc. 

("The  Worker,"  New  York,  October  16,  1904.) 

As  for  Samuel  Gompers,  the  recreant  officer  of  a  great  labor 

organization,  who  has  prostituted  his  high  office  to  the  service  of 

capitalis^  politics  and  of  personal  rancor  and  ambition,  who  has 

not  scrupled  to  make  the  Presidency  of  the  American  Federation  a 


66 

campaign  agency  for  Democratic  politicians  and  an  advertising 
agency  for  vulgar  sensation  mongers,  we  arraign  him  at  the  bar 
of  the  conscience  and  reason  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  working 
class.  ...  J] 

("Appeal  to  Reason,"  May,  1904.) 

Any  other  ticket  than  the  Socialist  that  professes  to  he  in  the 
interest  of  the  working  class  is  a  fraud.  Kansas  City  Socialists 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  themselves  for  being  taken  in  with  a 
"labor"  ticket  that  was  gotten  up  by  the  old  party  machine  to  kill 
their  votes.  Some  weak-kneed  brethren  fall  easy  victims  to  the 
manipulations  of'  Gompers'  lieutenants,  in  the  pay  of  the  master 
class.  .  .  . 

("Chicago  Socialist,"  Januar\   16,   1904.) 
Where  else  outside  the  United  States  has  the  organized  labor 
movement  developed  a  breed  that  is  a  cancer  upon  trade  unionism 
in  general — Gompers,  Mitchell,  Shaffer,  et  al.? 

(£.  V.  Debs  at  the  Chicago  Coliseum.) 

Samuel  Gompers,  President  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  said  the  other  day  that  he  had  read  "Socialism  in  two  lan- 
guages. He  had  better  have  understood  it  in  one.  He  is  opposed 
to  politics  in  the  union.  He  knows  very  well  that  when  politics 
comes  into  the  union  he  will  go  out  of  the  union.  He  and  Mark 
Hanna  will  solve  the  labor  question  if  you  workingmen  will  let 
them  alone,  but  when  it  is  solved  in  their  way  it  will  not  be  solved 
in  your  way. 

(J\Tew  York  "People''  January  19,  1905.) 
The  anthracite  strike  of  1902,  had  it  been  led  by  a  man  instead 
of -by  a  labor-lieutenant  of  the  capitalist  class,  could  have  placed 
the  working  class  of  America  a  long  step  forward  toward  their 
emancipation.  ...  A  happy  omen  is  the  fact  that  Mitchell's 
organization  is  on  the  verge  of  disruption. 

("Chicago  Socialist,"  February,  1905.) 

John  Mitchell  tells  us  that  there  are  25,000  fewer  members  of 
his  organization  to-day  than  when  he  made  his  last  report.  This 
js.  bemuse  the  miners  are  coming  to  see  that  there  is  only  one  way 


67 


to  abolish  poverty,  and  that  is  to  abolish  the  system  that  filches 
from  the  working  class  four-fifths  of  all  that  that  class  produces. 
The  miner  who  understands  that  millions  want  heat  and  that  he 
wants  bread  because  of  private  ownership  will  not  stay  in  John 
mine  owners'  organization. 


("Danville  Free  Citizen."  Feb.  19.  —  Debs  organ.} 

Parry  says  a  man  has  the  right  to  work  as  he  pleases.  Gom- 
pers  and  Mitchell  say  a  man  has  the  right  to  vote  as  he  pleases. 
Their  position  is  essentially  the  same  and  leads  to  the  same  re- 
sults. 

The  man  who  votes  against  his  class  is  not  a  union  man  —  :he 
may  wear  a  union  badge  as  big  as  a  mule-shoe  —  he  may  be  ignor- 
ant. but  whatever  else  he  may  be  or  may  not  be,  he  is  a  scab.  He 
betrays,  like  Judas,  .his  fellow-worker  to  his  capitalist  master,  robs 
him  of  what  his  labor  produces,  impoverishes  his  family,  starves 
his  wife,  deforms  his  children,  and  all  this  he  does  because,  ac- 
cording to  Gompers  and  Mitchell,  he  can  vote  as  he  pleases  and 
the  unions  of  his  fellows  have  no  right  to  object  to  his  inalienable 
right  to  vote  them  into  wage  slavery  and  still  strut  and  swagger 
as  a  "union  man."  Hell  is  full  of  such  union  (  ?)  men. 

("The  New  Nation,") 

The  thirty  days  mourning  period  set  for  the  death  of  Mark 
Hanna  by  David  M.  Parry.  Rockefeller,  Roosevelt,  Gompers,  and 
Mitchell,  and  the  gang  of  ballot  box  stuffers  in  charge  of  the  rep- 
dem  parties,  and  manufacturers  of  blocks  of  "V"  used  to  buy 
votes,  have  expired,  and  the  gang  of  live  criminals  are  soon  to 
appoint  as  United  States  Senator  from  Ohio,  Col.  Dick,  Mark's 
right-hand  bower,  and  author  of  the  American  Russian  military 
bill  now  a  law  in  this  "free"  country,  and  father  of  the  Catling 
gun.  to  be  used  in  Colorado  and  Pennsylvania  to  murder  working 
men.  That's  rig-lit  !  fill  the  gambling  hell  at  Washington  full  of 
murderers  to  rule  us  with  cold  lead  —  the  workers  seem  to  like  it. 

("Appeal  to  Reason") 

Compels  recommends  a  gigantic  strike  fund.  The  leaders 
want  to  handle  the  cash  of  their  followers.  What  would  a  great 
strike  fund  amount  to  against  men  who  control  billions  and  who 
own  the  houses  the  working  class  live  in?  Such  advice  is  t  reach- 


68 

ery  to  the  workers.  It  would  mean  placing  all  their  money  where 
the  capitalists'  courts  could  swoop  it  all  in.  Wonder  how  long-  it 
will  take  the  workers  to  see  that  Gompers  is  working  in  the  inter- 
est of  the  capitalists  ? 

("Wayland's  Monthly/'  April,  1906.) 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  has  for  years  prevented  its 
members  from  talking  politics  in  its  meetings ;  it  has  set  down  on 
the  Socialist  members  for  wanting  to  discuss  economic  questions ; 
its  leaders  have  denounced  Socialists  and  their  demands.  Now  it 
has  officially  taken  the  position  that  its  members  must  go  into 
politics  for  their  own  interest,  and  use  the  ballot  to  get  what  they 
have  failed  to  get  in  the  economic  field. 

(Victor  L.  Berger  in  "Social  Democratic  Herald!') 

It  is  the  only  kind  of  politics  (American  Federation  of  Labor 
political  campaign)  that  pays — for  the  leaders. 

(Kansas  City  "Labor  Herald"  May  6,  1904.) 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the 
I.  T.  U.  convention,  held  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  August  n  to  16, 
1902;  page  155: 

"Proposition  No.  106 — By  Delegate  Ryan,  of  Binghamton, 
N.  Y. 

"Resolved,  That  our  delegates  to  the  next  convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  do  not  work  or  vote  for  any  prop- 
osition which  may  be  introduced  which  has  for  its  object  the 
placing  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  on  record  as  advo- 
cating Socialism  or  any  other  political  idealism,  and  that  our 
delegates  stand  so  instructed." 

At  the  New  Orleans  convention  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor,  held  November  13  to  22,  1902,  three  months  later. 
Max  Hayes  introduced  a  resolution,  asking  the  convention — the 
twenty-second — to  "advise  the  working  people  to  organize  their 
economic  and  political  power  to  secure  for  labor  the  full  equiv- 
alent of  its  toil  and  the  overthrow  of  the  wage  system  and  the 
establishment  of  an  industrial  co-operative  democracy,"  thereby 
the  specific  instruction  of  the  Cincinnati  convention. 


69 

(A.  P.  of  L.  Organizer  for  District  of  Calif 'ornia,  July  18,  1904.) 

Socialism  within  the  ranks  of  the  unions  has  done  as  much, 
if  not  more,  than  the  Alliance  to  weaken  our  ranks  and  cause 
discouragement  and  disintegration.  Much  of  my  time  as  Organ- 
izer has  been  devoted  to  the  work  of  showing,  or  attempting  to 
show,  that  Socialism  or  any  other  "ism"  except  unionism  means 
disruption. 

The  Socialists  claim  to  be  unionists,  yet  they  never  lose  an 
opportunity  to  damn  the  unions.  Out  with  them ! 

(  Letter  from  Secretary  of  American  Federation  of  Labor  to  Or- 
ganizer of  A.  F.  of  L.,  October  31,  1904.) 

"Dear  Sir  and  Brother: 

"If  you  have  not  received  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners' 
'Magazine,'  nor  read  the  'International  Socialist  Rci'iew,'  you  prob- 
ably have  not  had  an  opportunity  to  read  an  article  written  by 
Max  S.  Hayes  of  Cleveland  Ohio. 

"In  the  article  the  following  statement  appears,  which  must  of 
necessity  be  of  interest  to  you : 

"  'The  Chicago  slatemakers,  I  am  informed,  have  decided  that 
Gmrpers  and  all  his  friends  will  have  to  walk  the  plank.  This 
>  weeping  change,  if  successful,  would  no  doubt  include  the  na- 
tional organizers,  or  a  good  part  of  them,  who  are  a  machine  in 
themselves.  It  is  surprising  how  indifferent  the  affiliated  national 
unions  and  their  memberships  are  regarding  this  small  army  of 
organizers,  who  draw  $200  to  $300  a  month  for  doing  nothing 
that  could  not  be  better  done  by  local  volunteers  who  are  paid 
their  actual  expenses  only.  The  present  system  is  becoming  scan- 
dalous and  will  cause  a  great  deal  of  talk  if  continued.' 

"Max  S.  Hayes  is  Secretary  of  the  Central  Labor  Union  of 
Cleveland  and  editor  of  the  'Cleveland  Citizen.' 

"The  American  Federation  of  Labor  officers  at  headquarters 
have  a  system  of  daily  reports  and  from  what  they  can  gather  from 
the  reports  of  the  organizers  they  are  not  only  faithfully  discharg- 
ing their  duties  as  organizers  but  are  accomplishing  good  results. 

"Mr.  Hayes  charges  that  the  organizers  are  drawing  two  or 
three  hundred  dollars  per  month  for  doing  nothing,  and  further 
states  that  local  volunteer  organizers  could  do  that  much  better,  and 
they  are  paid  only  their  actual  expenses. 

"If  you  are  in  possession  of  any  facts  which  would  justify  the 


;o 

charge  of  Mr.  Hayes,  I  would  be  pleased  to  receive  same  at  your 
earliest  convenience.  Fraternally  yours, 

FRANK  MORRISON,  Secretary  of  A.  F.  of  L." 

(Editorial,    "American   Federationist,"   February,    1903.) 
(Under  heading  of  "Jllst  Misrepresentation,  That's  All/') 

As  will  be  observed  in  our  official  column,  the  Brewers'  Ex- 
change of  Cincinnati  and  vicinity  has  been  taken  from  the  "We 
Don't  Patronize  List"  and  placed  upon  the  fair  list  of  the  Amer- 
ican Federation  of  Labor. 

In  taking  cognizance  of  this  matter  in  this  column,  we  do  so 
because  of  the  unwarranted  attack  by  the  "Brauer-Zeitung"  the 
official  journal  of  the  International  Union  of  United  Brewery 
Workmen,  upon  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  the  "Amer- 
ican Federationist,"  and  its  editor.  We  have  no  desire  to  indulge 
in  any  measure-to-measure  sort  of  controversy  with  any  one, 
much  less  the  editor  of  the  "Brauer-Zeitnng" 

It  appears  that  no  matter  what  is  done  or  what  is  left  undone, 
no  act  of  either  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  or  its  officers 
can  escape  the  vilification  and  misrepresentation  of  editor  Traut- 
mann  of  the  "Braucr-Zeitnng."  In  this  instance  it  appears  that 
the  attack  has  for  its  basis  that  the  official  announcement  above  re- 
ferred to  was  not  published  in  the  January  issue  of  the  "Amer- 
ican Federationist."  In  order  to  give  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  matter  we  recite  a  few  facts  which  may  be  of  interest. 

At  the  New  Orleans  convention,  at  the  request  of  the  delegates 
of  the  Brewery  Workers'  International  Union,  the  President  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was  empowered  to  appoint  a 
committee  for  the  purpose  of  conferring  with  the  brewers  con- 
stituting the  Brewers'  Exchange  of  Cincinnati  and  vicinity,  with 
a  view  of  bringing  about  an  adjustment  of  the  long  continued 
controversy  in  which  the  Brewery  Workers  were  engaged. 

When  the  President  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
notified  the  Secretary  of  the  Brewery  Workers'  International 
Union  that  by  direction  of  the  New  Orleans  convention  he  had 
appointed  a  committee  to  wait  upon  the  employing  brewers  of 
Cincinnati  to  bring  about  an  adjustment,  the  secretary  replied  in 
a  letter  that  it  was  useless ;  that  there  was  nothing  that  could  be 
accomplished.  We  answered  that  there  was  nothing  like  trying, 
and  that  we  hoped  that  the  committee  would  succeed  in  spite  of 


the  lack  of  faith  and  apparent  lack  of  interest   displayed  by  the 
Secretary  nf  the   Hrewery  Workers. 

In  spite  of  his  misgivings,  the  committee  succeeded  in  adjust- 
ing the  dispute  upon  a  basis  mutually  honorable  to  all  parties. 

(Editorial,    "American    Fcderationist,"   August,    1903.) 

The  organization  which  the  political  Socialists  are  coddling 
and  encouraging,  the  so-called  American  Labor  Union,  has,  ac- 
cording to  Secretary  Baine  of  the  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Na- 
tional Union,  "absolved  its  members  from  patronizing  union  labeled 
shoes."  The  American  Labor  Union  has  also  placed  a  "boycott" 
on  the  union  labeled  product  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Papermakers. 

(Circular  issued   by   order  of  the  Executive   Council  American 
Federation  of  Labor,  October  15,  1903.) 

To  the  Officers  and  Members  of  Laborers'  Protective  Unions : 

.  .  .  I  now  have  before  me  a  circular  of  this  class,  which 
has  been  recently  issued,  calling  upon  the  Protective  Laborers' 
Uni<»n  of  the  United  States  to  assemble  in  a  "national  convention 
t<>  be  held  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  National  Protective  La- 
borers' Union.  I  cannot  conceive  of  any  reason  why  these  peo- 
ple should  thus  seek  to  divide  and  dismember  the  labor  movement 
'of  our  country  as  it  is  embodied  in  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor,  unless,  indeed,  it  is  by  reason  of  inexperience  and  a  lack 
of  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  gre'at  interests  they  hope  to  rep- 
resent, or  through  a  motive  antagonistic  to  the  welfare  of  organ- 
ized labor  and  one  seeking  its  destruction. 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  organized  on  the  very 
best  of  administrative  and  business  principles,  its  efforts  have 
been  unceasing  in  the  interest  of  the  organized  labor  movement 
of  America,  and  the  result  of  its  work  is  attested  by  the  millions 
of  its  adherents.  We  are  making  the  fastest  possible  progress. 
Since  the  formation  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  we  have 
been  instrumental  in  forming  more  than6oof  the  present 90 national 
and  international  trade  unions,  1 12  of  which  are  affiliated  and  others 
are  constantly  in  process  of  formation  through  our  efforts.  It  is 
our  paramount  and  ever-present  purpose  to  continue  organizing 
new  trade  unions  from  the  isolated  unorganized  workers ;  to  form 
Federal  Labor  Unions  as  soon  as  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of 
workers  following  any  particular  trade  or  craft,  and  when  there 


72 

are  enough  local  unions  of  any  trade  or  calling  to  form  them  into 
national  or  international  unions. 

Look  at  the  grandeur  of  our  general  movement ;  the  splendid 
advance  it  has  made  and  is  making;  the  healthier  public  opinion 
created  regarding  the  labor  cause;  the  grand  spirit  of  unity  and 
solidarity  among-  the  workers  themselves,  and  the  greater  sym- 
pathetic attitude  of  the  general  public  toward  our  movement. 
Could  a  "National  Protective  Association"  be  of  any  service  to 
the  general  welfare  of  the  labor  movement  in  America?  Would 
it  not  rather  be  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  all  trade  unions 
and  the  individual  members  composing  them?  .  .  . 

SAMUFX  GOMPKRS. 

(Proceedings,  American  Federation  of  Labor,   KJOJ.) 

On  Resolution  No.  149. — By  Delegate  Max  S.  Hayes,  Inter- 
national Typographical  Union : 

"Resolved,  By  the  delegates  here  assembled  in  this,  the  twenty- 
second  annual  convention  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor, 
that  a  charter  be  granted  to  the  Laborers'  International  Protective 
Union  of  America." 

The  committee  reports  unfavorably. 

Delegate   Reese  introduced   the   following   substitute: 

"The  Laborers'  International  Protective  Union  to  be  given  juris- 
diction over  common  and  general  laborers  that  are  not  eligible  to 
nu'iiilKTship  in  any  national  or  international  unions  affiliated  with 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

"The  charter  to  expressly  stipulate  that  any  laborers  organized 
by  the  Laborers'  International  Protective  Union  and  claimed  at 
any  time  hereafter  by  any  national  or  international  union  affiliated 
with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  must  be  transferred  to 
such  organization." 

Delegate  Ryan  gave  a  brief  history  of  the  men  behind  the 
Laborers'  International  I7nion. 

The  previous  question  was  called  for. 

Delegate  Reese's  substitute  was  lost. 

The  committee's  report  was  adopted. 

(From  President  Campers'  Speech  at  Boston  contention  of  the 

.-\mcrican   Federation   of  Labor,   1903.) 

President  Gompers :  Mr.  Chairman  and  fellow  'delegates,  I 
am  always  impressed  with  an  earnest  man's  utterances,  and  toward 


73 

a  man  who  ir.akcs  a  statement  and  gives  me  an  assurance  my 
disposition  has  always  been  to  be  credulous  and  to  believe  him. 
When  an  organization  makes  a  declaration,  my  disposition  is  to 
believe  it.  I  am  always  inclined  to  believe  a  man  or  an  aggre- 
gation of  men  to  be  honest,  but  when  I  discover  that  a  man  has 
made  professions  of  one  thing  and  his  actions  belie  his  words, 
then  I  am  like  the  Missourian;  after  that,  so  far  as  he  is  con- 
cerned, he  must  show  me. 

Yice-President  Duncan  has  not  the  opportunity  to  reply  to  his 
critics,  because  of  his  calling  attention  to  the  conduct  of  the  men 
who  clothed  themselves  in  the  mantle  of  Socialism  and  assumed 
a  position  of  superiority,  mentally,  in  honesty,  in  work,  and  in 
ennobling  purposes.  It  is  because  their  professions  are  in  entire 
discord  with  their  actions  in  this  convention  that  it  is  necessary  to 
call  their  position  in  question. 

I  shall  not  refer  at  this  time  to  their  very  many  detailed  acts 
of  treachery  to  the  trade  union  movement ;  but  I  shall  refer  to 
some  of  the  declarations  made  upon  the  floor  of  this  convention  by 
delegates  participating  in  this  discussion  and  show7  you  that 
though  they  may  believe  themselves  to  be  trade  unionists  they  are 
at  heart  and  logically  the  antagonists  of  our  movement. 

I  want  to  say,  and  I  am  sure  it  will  come  as  a  shock  to  the 
brother,  for  between  Mr.  Hayes  and  myself — I  mean  Max  Hayes 
—personally  there  has,  I  think,  existed  a  very  close  and  sym- 
pathetic bond  of  friendship,  but  here  we  differ — I  am  a  trade 
unionist ;  he  thinks  he  is. 

Delegate  Hayes,  I  firmly  believe,  was  ill  when  he  came  to 
this  convention.  He  could  not  accept  a  duty  which  was  meant  as 
a  compliment,  and  has  been  so  regarded  by  other  men,  to  perform 
committee  work :  but  if  ever  a  man  made  an  effort  and  showed 
that  he  was  sacrificing  his  vitality  he  did  in  making  his  address 
upon  a  speculative  theory  which,  undoubtedly,  he  thought  more 
important  than  the  doing  of  the  essential  work  of  the  convention. 

.  .  .  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  no  matter  what  we  achieve,  we 
are  belittled  by  the  Socialists?  Even  the  Labor  Day  we  have 
achieved  for  all  the  people  of  our  country — the  proposition  comes 
in  here  to  abolish  it  and  to  make  Labor  Day  in  line  with  the  Labor 
Day  of  continental  Europe.  May  i.  The  A.  E.  of  L.  in  1879  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  French  workingmen,  suggesting  to  them 
to  celebrate  the  ist  day  of  May  when  the  carpenters  were  to  in- 
augurate the  eight-hour  day;  and  from  that  suggestion,  made  by 


74 

your  humble  servant,  they  have  made  the  ist  of  May  of  each 
year  their  holiday.  And  how  do  they  celebrate  it?  Usually  on 
the  Sunday  before  or  the  Sunday  after.  They  take  no  holiday, 
but  they  sometimes  celebrate  in  the  evening  of  May  I. 

.  .  .  Is  it  not  true  to  a  very  great  extent,  that  your  socialis- 
tic American  Labor  Union,  except  the  miners  and  a  very  few 
others,  is  made  up  very  largely  of  expelled  members  of  the  trade 
unions  who  broke  faith  with  their  f ellow -workmen  ?  Do  you 
Socialists  here  deny  it?  Your  official  papers  say  so,  and  your 
Socialist  organizers'  reports  admit  it.  Are  your  Socialist  unions 
not  boycotting  the  International  Boot  and  Shoe  Workers'  Union 
label  and  the  International  Papermakers'  Union  label,  and  other 
international  unions,  and  where  they  do  not  boycott  them  hold  the 
threat  over  the  heads  of  some  other  unions,  compelling  them  to 
submit  or  forcing  them  to  waver  in  their  fealty  and  loyalty  to  the 
movement  ? 

I  want  to  tell  you  Socialists  that  I  have  studied  your 
philosophy ;  read  your  works  upon  economics,  and  not  the  meanest 
of  them;  studied  your  standard  works  both  in  English  and  Ger- 
man— have  not  only  read,  but  studied  them.  I  have  heard  your 
orators  and  watched  the  work  of  your  movement  the  world  over. 
I  have  kept  close  watch  upon  your  doctrines  for  thirty  years ; 
have  been  closely  associated  with  many  of  vou,  and  know  how 
you  think  and  what  you  propose.  I  know,  too,  what  you  have  up 
your  sleeve.  And  I  want  to  say  that  I  am  entirely  at  variance 
with  your  philosophy.  I  declare  it  to  you,  I  am  not  only  at 
variance  with  your  doctrines,  but  with  your  philosophy. 

Economically,  you  are  unsound ;  socially,  you  are  wrong ;  in- 
dustrially, you  are  an  impossibility. 

(Editorial,  "American  Federationist,"  May,  1904.) 

(Under  heading  of  "Falsehood  and   Malice  of  Labor's  Antag- 
onists.") 

But  what  shall  be  said  of  a  press  which,  while  claim- 
ing to  advocate  and  defend  the  cause  of  labor,  indulges  in  the 
bitterest  kind  of  invective  and  malicious  misrepresentation  in 
regard  to  the  active  men  in  the  trade  union  movement?  There 
is  not  a  charge  which  the  worst  capitalist's  papers  make  against 
the  leaders  of  the  trade  union  movement  that  is  not  repeated,  em- 
phasized with  bitter  and  malevolent  purpose  by  the  official  and 


75 

semi-official  papers  published  by  the  Socialist  political  party. 

The  honor,  honesty  and  motives  of  the  active  men  in  the 
trade  union  movement  are  constantly  attacked,  and  the  vilest  pur- 
poses attributed  to  them.  The  more  faithful  and  unswerving 
they  may  be  to  the  trade  union  movement,  with  the  single  pur- 
pose of  serving  that  cause  alone,  the  more  surely  do  they  incur 
the  hatred,  opposition,  vilification,  and  misrepresentation  of  the 
Socialist  press. 

It  was  in  the  hope  of  directly  trying  to  bring  discredit 
upon  the  President  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  in- 
fclirectly  upon  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  itself,  that  the 
Socialist  political  party  press  falsely  and  maliciously  represented 
that  officer  as  "wining  and  dining"  with  the  enemies  of  the  work- 
ing people,  and  participating  at  a  "banquet"  in,  what  they  falsely 
declared  to  be,  a  boycotted  club.  The  facts  of  the  matter  are  that 
during  the  Boston  convention  of  the  American  Federation-  of 
Labor  some  public-spirited  friends  suggested  a  meeting  at  lunch- 
eon of  divergent  representative  labor  men,  employers,  and  public 
men,  for  an  interchange  of  views  which  might  tend  to  lessen  bit- 
terness  and  antagonism  on  the  part  of  the  employers  toward  or- 
ganized labor,  and  bring  about  not  only  a  more  thorough  organi- 
zation, but  agreement  and  joint  bargains  under  better  conditions 
for  the  working  people. 

.  .  .  Of  course  we  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  at  that 
luncheon  there  were  not  some  persons  present  who  were  opposed 
to  the  trade  union  movement,  but  the  meeting  of  trade  union  men 
with  these  opponents  was  for  the  purpose  of,  if  not  converting 
them,  at  least  minimizing  their  antagonism  and  bringing  about 
better  conditions  for  our  fellow  workers. 

.  .  .  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  all  trade  union  oppon- 
ents, whether  they  be  of  the  "Parry"  or  of  the  Socialist  politician 
type,  realize  that  as  the  trade  union  movement  grows  in  numbers, 
power,  and  influence,  more  converts  of  former-  opponents  are 
made  among  employers  and  public  men  and  more  agreements  be- 
tween the  union  and  employers  are  reached.  .  .  . 


HI.— THE  PERIOD   OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  WORKERS 
OF  THE  WORLD,  1905—1909. 

(Editorial,  ff American  Federationist,"  February,   1905.) 
(Under  heading  of  ''More  Socialist  Perversion.") 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  a  discussion  of  the  Civic  Fed- 
eration, other  than  to  say  that  it  is  an  association  made  up  of  rep- 
resentative men  in  the  ranks  of  organized  labor  and  a  large  num- 
ber of  great  employers  of  labor,  with  representatives  of  the  gen- 
eral public,  for  the  discussion  of  the  economic  problems  affecting 
the  workers  and  the  people,  and  it  aims  to  be  helpful  in  bringing 
about  more  rightful  relations  between  the  workmen  and  their 
employers.  It  is  not  an  association  in  which  men  surrender  their 
convictions  or  the  independence  of  their  positions,  nor  are  de- 
cisions rendered  binding  upon  any  one.  It  seeks  to  bring  representa- 
tive men  in  all  walks  of  life  together,  to  be  helpful  to  their  fel- 
lows. It  has  made  conferences  possible  between  organized  labor  and 
employers  of  labor,  including  large  corporations,  when,  without 
it,  many  conferences  would  have  been  impossible.  It  has  there- 
by been  helpful  in  preventing  conflicts,  and  also  in  paving  the  way 
for  the  adjustment  of  difficulties,  and  in  no  instances  have  these 
conferences,  in  which  strikes  and  conflicts  were  avoided  or  ad- 
justed, been  other  than  helpful  to  labor.  So  much  for  the  Civic 
Federation  itself. 

But  the  Socialists,  who  take  every  opportunity  to  decry  the 
trade  union  movement  and  declare  that  strikes  are  futile  to  pro- 
tect or  promote  the  interests  of  the  working  people,  attack  the 
trade  unionists  when  the  effort  is  made  by  them  to  avoid  a  strike 
or  to  bring  one  to  an  honorable  or  advantageous  close.  And  it  is 
because  the  trade  unionists,  by  their  practical  course,  bring  success 
and  advantage  to  labor  that  the  political  Socialists  realize  that 
their  predictions  are  groundless,  their  philosophy  unsound  and 
therefore  gleefully  distort  any  course  which  the  trade  unionists  may 
pursue. 

Concede,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that  there  are  enemies  of 
labor  who  attend  the  meetings  and  the  incident  dinner  of  the  Civic 
Federation ;  how  is  it  possible  for  the  trade  unionists  to  controvert 
their  position  unless  by  meeting  them  face  to  face  and  as  stoutly 
and  as  ably  as  they  can  presenting  the  contentions  and  demands 


77 

which  organized  labor  makes  upon  them  and  upon  modern  so- 
ciety ''. 

During1  the  meeting  referred  to,  which  was  the  cause  of  the 
last  Socialist  attack,  the  representatives  of  labor  as  manfully 
and  as  strongly  as  could  be  presented  the  position  of  organized 
labor. 

.  .  .  When  we  at  Boston  called  the  attention  of  a  Socialist 
newspaper  reporter  to  the  fact  that  he  had  sent  a  maliciously  un- 
truthful statement  to  his  paper  regarding  us,  his  answer  was, 
"You  know  I  am  a  Socialist."  That  answer  is  so  generally  typi- 
cal of  Socialists'  statements  regarding  the  trade  union  movement 
and  its  active  advocates,  spokesmen,  and  defenders,  that  one  is 
logically  led  to  inquire  whether  it  is  naturally  inherent  in  their 
makeup,  or  simply  due  to  the  ''metaphysical  dope"  they  have  im- 
bibed, and  which  they  bra'nd  and'  pass  off  on  the  unwary  under 
the  euphonious  name  of  Socialism. 

(Article  In  I'.  G.  R.  Gordon  in  "American  Federationist"  Feb- 
ruary, 1905.) 

(Under  heading  of  "Socialist  Tactics.") 

After  denouncing  President  Gompers,  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.. 
John  Mitchell,  and  other  tried  and  true  labor  leaders  for  a  year; 
after  insinuating  that  such  men  as  Gompers  and  Mitchell  are 
traitors  to  our  cause ;  after  doing  all  in  their  power  to  bring  dis- 
credit upon  the  chosen  labor  leaders  of  the  nation;  after  flirting 
with  the  American  Labor  Union  and  giving  that  political  union 
all  the  aid  possible,  the  red  flag  gang  appears  on  the  floor  of  the 
San  Francisco  convention  with 'the  boast  that  they,  and  they  alone. 
are  the  only  true  friends  of  organized  labor,  that  they  only  stand 
for  a  true  labor  union  policy  and,  with  the  boast  of  friendship  in 
their  mouth,  they  proceed  to  circulate  a  miserable  lying  docu- 
ment in  an  effort  to  defeat  President  Gompers  for  re-election. 
Having  been  caught  with  the  goods  they  make  themselves  in- 
decent in  their  illogical  but  abject  apology  for  their  damnable 
tactics.  Indeed,  these  red  flaggers  think  no  one  but  themselves 
have  any  brains  or  honesty.  Anyone  and  everyone  who  dares 
to  disagree  with  this  gang  of  land  pirates  is  called  a  scoundrel,  a 
thief,  a  traitor,  or  worse.  Talk  about  the  party  that  believes  in 
the  brotherhood  of  man1  Ye  g.»ds,  it's  the  kind  of  brotherhood 


78 

that  would  not  only  put  the  knife  into  your  back  but  turn  it 
around  after  the  sticking.  And  these  are  the  kind  of  tactics  by 
which  the  Socialists  imagine  they  can  win  the  two  million  trade 
unionists  of  America.  Bosh  !  Bosh  !  Bosh  ! 

(Editorial,  " American  tfederationist"  May,  1905.) 

(Under   heading  of  "Mr.   Hayes,   Socialist,   of   Cleveland — And 

Others.") 

Mr.  Victor  Berger,  the  Milwaukee  Socialist,  has  been  twitting 
Mr.  Max  Hayes,  of  Cleveland,  charging  that  he  is  not  a  Socialist 
at  all,  and  that  he  is  another  "light  that  failed."  All  this  because 
for  a  year  or  so  Mr.  Hayes  has  stayed  his  voice  and  pen  in  their 
attack  upon  the  trade  unionists.  But  he  evidently  could  not  with- 
stand this  "baiting,"  and  hence  Mr.  Hayes,  the  Cleveland  Social- 
ist, is  out  again  saying  some  "nice"  things  about:  trade  unionists, 
and  particularly  about  Mr.  Perkins  (President  of  the  Cigar- 
makers'  International  Union)  and  Gompers,  neither  of  whom 
edits  to  his  liking  the  papers  which  they  are  directed  to  publish.  He 
would  have  the  Cigarmakers' International  Union  "Official  Journal" 
and  the  "American  Federationist"  follow  the  example  set  by  the 
"official  organs  of  the  brewers,  bakers,  etc.,"  which  he  says  are 
"tolerant  and  high  class,"  and,  without  so  much  as  a  discernible 
attempt  at  joking,  adds :  "Let  us  have  the  broadest,  fairest,  and 
tolerant  discussion." 

The  advice  from  one  who,  in  successful  competition  with  De 
Leon,  insinuated  and  charged  treachery  and  dishonesty  against 
every  active,  faithful  trade  unionist  of  the  country,  may  cause 
those  who  have  memories  to  smile  somewhat  incredulously,  rub 
their  eyes,  and  inquire  whether  this  tolerant,  broad,  and  fair  Mr. 
Hayes  of  to-day  is  the  same  gentleman  who,  as  the  editor  of  the 
"Citizen'  indulged  in  the  worst  diatribes  against  the  men 
in  the  trade  union  movement  who  have  and  are  giving  their 
all — aye.  their  very  lives — to  the  cause  and  interest  of  their  fel- 
low workers.  But  of  this  more  anon — perhaps. 

.  .  .  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  clearly  define  the  mistaken 
view  of  Mr.  Hayes  or  those  who  wrote  the  phrase  "Socialism's 
Ablest  Foe."  With  Socialism's  propaganda  we  have  no  desire 
to  interfere.  If  those  who  believe  in  that  doctrine.  Utopian  mid 
unsound  as  it  may  be,  desire  to  continue  to  imbibe  that  brand  of 
"metaphysical  dope"  they  may  do  so  to  their  hearts'  content  with- 


79 

out  so  much  as  a  word  or  hint  of  active  protest  or  objection  from 
us. 

It  is  not  Socialism  we  have  been  called  upon  to  combat,  but 
the  "pernicious  activity"  of  Socialist^  who  seem  to  have  made  it 
their  particular  mission  in  life  either  to  dominate  and  divert  or 
destroy  the  only  organization  that  protects  the  wage-earners  and 
promotes  their  interests — the  trade  unions. 

.  .  .  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  any  one  may  take  up  any  Socialist 
party  publication  or  hear  any  party  Socialist  speak,  and  the  pith 
and  point  of  their  chief  utterances  are  denunciation  and  a  tirade 
of  abuse  of  the  trade  unions  and  the  best  known  trade  unionists? 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that,  because  Mr.  Hayes  has  for  a  few  years  had  a 
more  decent  regard  for  the  characters  of  men  and  the  trade 
union  movement  when  speaking  or  writing,  he  has  come  in  for  the 
attacks  of  some  of  his  fellow  Socialist  party  members,  who  for 
that  reason  claim  he  is  not  a  Socialist  at  all  or  that  he  is  another 
Socialist  "whose  light  has  failed?" 

If  Socialists  will  but  permit  the  trade  union  movement  its 
full  opportunity  for  growth  and  development  without  attempting 
to  dominate  it,  to  make  of  it  a  mere  tail  to  the  Socialist  political 
party  kite — in  other  words,  quit  their  unjustified  attacks  upon  the 
trade  union  movement  and  the  trade  unionists — they  may  rest 
assured  that  they  may  proceed  to  advocate  and  disseminate  the 
doctrines  in  which  they  believe  or  avow  without  a  word  of  ob- 
jection or  protest  from  thoughtful  trade  unionists;  but  so  long  as 
they  pursue  the  policy  which  has  characterized  them  for  years, 
they  cannot  enforce  our  silence  so  long  as  life  remains.  And 
even  then — well,  there  will  be  others. 

(Editorial,  "American  Fcderationist }"  October,  1905.) 

(Under   heading  of   "Regarding   Some   More   Socialistic   Word 

''Juggling.") 

Some  months  ago  we  invited  a  number  of  men  to  write  ar- 
ticles for  a  symposium  in  the  "American  Fcderationist''  to  be 
published  in  the  Labor  Day  issue.  Many  responded.  Among 
others  we  invited  Mr.  Max  Hayes,  of  Cleveland.  He  replied  by 
saying  that,  in  an  article  written  by  him  and  published  in  the 
"American  ]:cderationist"  three  years  ago.  we  blue-penciled  the 
heart  out  of  it.  We  denied  this.,  and  was  supported  in  our 
position  by  our  assistants  and  by  our  printers.  We  asked  why  he 


8o 

had  allowed  three  years  to  pass  without  his  calling  our  attention 
to  it.  He  answered  that  he  had  a  copy  of  the  article  but  had  de- 
stroyed it  "recently." 

We  then  asked  him  to  write  an  article  upon  the  socialistic 
gathering  at  Chicago,  which  sought  to  disrupt  the  trade  union 
movement — the  American  Federation  of  Labor — and  assured 
him  that  if  he  wrote  such  an  article  we  would  publish  it  as  written 
or  return  the  manuscript. 

Instead  of  writing  the  article  requested  he  goes  all  around  the 
question  and  scarcely  touches  it  at  all.  We  would  have  been  en- 
tirely justified  in  returning  the  manuscript  for  his  failure  to  deal 
with  the  question  at  issue.  We  preferred  to  give  it  space,  rather 
than  give  additional  excuse  for  the  repetition  of  the  mis-state- 
ments that  it  is  the  trade  unionists'  desire  to  suppress  discussion. 
We  urge  a  careful  reading  of  Mr.  Hayes'  article  printed  else- 
where in  this  issue,  and  it  will  be  observed  that  where  he  does 
not  deal  in  personalities  he  must  needs  take  advantage  of  the  op- 
portunity to  "make  Socialist  propaganda." 

.  .  .  Perhaps  Mr.  Hayes  is  aware  of  one  of  the  most  important 
contributing  causes  to  the  large  sale  of  medical  "dope"  in  the  form 
of  patent  medicines.  Their  proprietors  ransack  the  vocabulary  of 
medical  lore,  describing  minutely  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to. 
There  are  few  of  the  weak-minded  who  escape  the  symptoms  of 
a  pain  or  an  ache  accurately  described,  and,  by  inference,  they 
are  persuaded  that  inasmuch  as  the  ills  from  which  they  suffer 
are  so  well  stated,  ergo,  the  "dope"  or  patent  medicine  must  of 
necessity  be  the  absolute  specific  remedy. 

Expert  analysis  has  demonstrated  that  most  of  these  "spe- 
cifics" contain  40  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  palatably  disguised.  The 
innocent  citizen  takes  it  for  a  while,  and  the  alcohol  and  other 
"dope"  make  him  "feel  good."  It  takes  some  time  for  him  to 
wake  up  and  realize  that  he  has  not  only  been  doped  but  duped. 

So  with  our  friends  who  deal  in  Brother  Haves'  "metaphy- 
sical dope."  They  ransack  the  history,  records,  and  vocabulary 
of  trade  union  investigation  and  work,  and  describe  to  the  average 
workman  the  horrors  of  our  economic  and  industrial  life;  and 
they,  too,  then  get  up  their  confiscation  scheme  and  abolition  of 
all  individual  initiative,  right,  or  power,  and  offer  these  as  a 
remedy  for  our  social  ills.  The  weak-minded  argue  that  inas- 
much as  the  symptoms  of  our  economic  and  industrial  ills  have 
been  accurately  described,  ergo,  the  socialistic  remedy  offered  must 


8i 

be  specific  and  absolute,  only  to  find  by  time  and  experience  that 
they,  too,  have  been  doped  and  duped;  that  the  elimination  of 
industrial  wrongs  and  ills  and  the  attainment  of  rights  and  im- 
provement of  and  in  the  condition  of  the  workers  is  by  the  evo- 
lutionary, rational,  and  natural  process  of  trade  union  activity, 
solidarity,  and  fraternity  through  federation. 

(Editorial,  "American    ]:edcnitionist''  September.    1908.) 
(  Under  heading  of  "Debs,  the  Apostle  of  Failure.") 

.  .  .  When  a  large  number  of  men  in  the  American  Rail- 
wax-  Union  responded  to  Mr.  Debs'  call  to  strike  and  many  be- 
came blacklisted  and  victimized,  he  advocated  and  finally  secured 
the  abandonment  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  and  this  left 
his  men  high  and  dry  without  the  slightest  organized  protection. 

"When  Mr.  Debs  realized  the  hopelessness  of  the  American 
Railway  Union  strike,  in  desperation  he  brought  every  influence 
to  bear  to  have  the  men  in  the  bona  fide  labor  movement  to 
Border"  a  general  strike  of  all  the  workers  of  our  country — to 
plunge  themselves  into  a  contest  which  was  a  forlorn  hope  from 
the  start. 

While  Mr.  Debs  was  Secretary  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Loco- 
motive Firemen  and  editor  of  its  official  magazine  that  organiza- 
tion held  one  of  its  conventions  in  Cincinnati.  He  had  given  the 
order  for  the  convention  printing  to  a  concern  which  had  a  contest 
on  with  the  Cincinnati  Typographical  Union.  A  committee  of 
Cincinnati  union  printers  called  upon  Mr.  Debs  to  ask  him  to  use 
the  influence  of  his  position  to  urge  the  printing  company  to  come 
to  an  amicable  adjustment  with  the  union,  or,  failing  in  that,  to 
give  the  convention  printing  to  a  union  house.  Did  Mr.  Debs 
comply  with  that  request  ?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  insulted  the  com- 
mittee and  told  them  he  wanted  nothing  to  do  with  them  or  their 
union. 

When  Mr.  Debs  had  about  run  to  the  end  of  his 
tether,  when  he  launched  and  officered  in  turn  the  American  Rail- 
way Union,  the  Western  Labor  Union,  and  the  American  Labor 
Union,  which  each  in  turn  he  wrecked,  he  then,  in  desperation, 
threw  himself,  body,  boots  and  breeches,  into  the  Industrial 
(  Wonder)  Workers  of  the  World  and  advocated  the  destruction 
of  every  trade  and  labor  union,  including  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor.  When  he  had  proved  the  Apostle  of  Failure  in 


82 

every  industrial  effort  which  he  undertook,  he  finally  launched 
another  pet  idea — none  other  than  a  land  speculation  colonization 
scheme  which  in  his  own  good  time  he  also  abandoned.  .  .  . 

("Cincinnati  Chronicle,"  January  7,  1905. — Trade  Union.*} 

Max  Hayes,  of  the  "Cleveland  Citizen,"  has  at  last  reached 
his  culmination — a  typical  fakir.  In  his  senseless  anxiety  to  ham- 
per the  cause  of  organized  labor  he  is  indulging  in  the  most  ridic- 
ulous and  contemptible  accusations,  blindly  forgetful  of  the  dirt 
in  front  of  his  own  door.  His  slanders  directed  at  eminent  labor 
officials  fall  flat  among  the  ranks  of  organized  labor.  They  know 
Max  and  have  nothing  but  contempt  for  his  ulcerations  of  anger 
and  the  filth  he  deals  in.  But  Haves'  mouthings  are  injurious 
to  the  cause,  in  that  they  serve  as  handles  to  the  capitalistic  press. 
He  is  fast  becoming  a  literary  bureau  for  the  dissemination  of 
mendacity.  Every  lie  he  utters  is  magnified  first  and  distributed 
afterwards  by  the  enemies  of  organized  labor.  .  .  . 

(Chicago  "Inter  Ocean"  Jnne  23,  1905.) 

Genial  and  smiling  "Gene"  Debs  was  a  prominent  figure 
among  the  delegates.  Thomas  F.  Hagerty,  formerly  a  priest, 
but  now  an  organizer  for  the  Socialist  party,  was  another  prom- 
inent figure.  The  scheme  of  a  great  industrial  organization  orig- 
inated in  the  brain  of  Hagerty.  He  will  have  much  to  say  on 
shaping  the  policy  of  the  "union,"  although  he  never  worked 
with  his  hands  himself. 

The  only  national  organizations  represented  outside  of  those 
embraced  in  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  union  are  the 
United  Brotherhood  of  Railway  Employes  and  the  United  Metal 
Workers.  The  latter  organization  was  recently  suspended  by  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  and  the  former  was  refused  ad- 
mission when  it  organized  about  three  years  ago.  The  two  or- 
ganizations have  an  aggregate  membership  of  about  5,000. 

("Western  Laborer"  February  4,   1905.) 

Max  S.  Hayes,  a  delegate  from  the  printers'  union  who  spent 
$350  of  that  body's  good  coin  to  pay  his  expenses  to  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  convention  in  San  Francisco,  has  an  article 
in  the  "International  Socialist  Review,"  that  he  would  not  print 
in  his  own  paper,  in  which  he  sneers  at  and  abuses  the  body  to 


S3 

which  he  was  an  official  delegate  representing  45,000  union  print- 
ers of  miscellaneous  political  belief.  It's  a  case  of  "everything 
is  gone  to  h — 11"  with  Hayes,  because  the  Federation  did  not  resolve 
in  favor  of  a  Kilkenny  cat  revolutionary  party.  In  the  article  in 
question  Hayes  throws  a  fit  at  the  National  Civic  Federation  and 
declares  that  "it  was  organized  to  destroy  the  militancy  of  the 
trade  union.  I  made  that  claim  before  and  repeat  it  now/'  flip- 
pantly declares  the  $350  delegate  of  Cleveland. 

\\  ell,  suppose  the  National  Civic  Federation  does  destroy  the 
militancy  of  the  trade  union  movement  and  in  its  place  puts  the 
collective  bargaining  principle  firmly  on  its  feet?  What  of  it? 
\\  ill  that  hurt  the  working  trade  unionists? 

What  Hayes  and  Berger  want  is  that  each  and  every  member 
of  the  trade  union  movement  become  a  socialistic  agitator — he 
would  like*  to  see  the  tr'ade  unionists  all  talking  of  revolution 
against  the  existing  form  of  government  in  this  country — a  form 
of  government  that  is  the  most  progressive  and  advanced  of  any 
government  known  to  mankind — a  government  that  is  unappre- 
ciated by  the  people,  and  for  that  reason  abuses  grow  up. 

The  game  of  the  Socialist  is  to  bring  about  a  revolution  in  this 
country,  but  the  red  agitators  like  Hayes  and  Berger  will  some 
day  discover  that  it  may  be  quite  an  easy  task  to  lead  a  mob  of 
ignorant,  armless  Russian  men,  women  and  children  up  against 
the  veteran  Cossacks  and  get  shot,  but  in  this  country  there  are 
too  many  schools. 

(''Garment  Workers'  \Veekl\  Bulletin,"  January  2,  19x39.) 

In  a  recent  issue  of  Victor  Berger's  ''Social-Democratic  Her- 
ald'' a  Socialist  paper  published  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  Victor  L. 
Berger,  over  his  signature,  violently  denounces  Samuel  Gompers, 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  executive  council,  the  dele- 
gates and  the  Federation  generally. 

It  was  our  intention  at  first  to  reproduce  a  half-dozen  sample 
paragraphs  to  show  the  form  of  mania  Berger  possesses,  but  on 
consideration  concluded  there  may  be  "method  in  his  madness." 
Victor  would  like  to  see  a  few  reputable  papers  reproduce  his 
diatribes.  \ 

Berger  has  missed  his  calling.  J.  W.  Van  Cleave,  publisher 
of  "American  Industries,''  would  no  doubt  have  given  Berger  $500 
for  the  article,  with  the  exclusive  right  to  publish  in  the  official 
organ  of  the  National  Manufacturers'  Association. 


84 

We  have  read  the  magazine  monthly  since  its  inception,  and 
can  safely  say  we  have  never  seen  such  a  mean,  cowardly,  false 
attack  on  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  and  the  delegates 
which  make  up  its  conventions  in  the  manufacturers'  organ  as  is 
made  by  ''Comrade"  Berger. 

(Joseph  Barondess  interviewed  in  the  \rw   York  "(ilobc"  Feb- 
ruary i,  1908.) 

"I  have  gradually  come  to  realize,"  said  he,  "that  the  Social- 
ists only  use  the  trades  unions  as  a  means  to  their  own  political 
ends.  Their  far-fetched  theories  have  nothing  to  offer  for  the 
immediate  improvement  of  labor. 

"The  Socialists. have  discouraged  some  of  the  best  efforts  of 
the  laborers  to  improve  their  condition. 

"The  leaders  of  this  movement  have  constantly  been  sowing 
discontent,  discouragement,  and  despair  among  the  people. 

"De  Leon,  you  know,  is  the  man  who  invented  the'  epithet, 
'labor  fakir/  which  the  Socialists  have  for  years  hurled  at  every 
worker  for  the  cause  of  union  labor  who  -was  not  a  Socialist.  The 
Socialists  not  only  made  every  effort  to  discredit  these  leaders  of 
labor,  but  they  organized  opposition  unions  like  the  Socialist 
Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  and  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World,  in  order  to  break  up  the  existing  organizations. 

"And  yet  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  does  more  for  the 
laborers  in  one  year  than  all  the  Socialists  combined  through 
all  the  years  of  their  agitation." 

(Socialist  "New  York  Labor  Library,"  February,   1905.) 

Industrial  unionism  is  the  name  applied  to  that  form  of  trade 
unionism  which  has  sprung  into  existence  as  a  direct  outgrowth 
of  modern  industrial  conditions,  under  which  whole  industries  are 
practically  owned  and  controlled  by  one  set  of  capitalists  through 
the  medium  of  a  trust  or  a  combine.  Its  advocates  and  pro- 
moters are  those  members  of  the  working  class  whose  experience 
in  the  trade  union  field  and  knowledge  of  capitalist  development 
have  led  them  to  see  that  the  old  form  of  craft  union,  which  orig- 
inated in  the  days  of  small  employers  and  subdivided  industries, 
is  not  only  inadequate  but  utterly  impotent  to  cope  with  the  power 
of  the  concentrated  ownership  of  trustified,  systematized  twen- 
tieth century  machinery  and  methods  of  production  ;  and  who, 


85 

furthermore,  realize  that  the  craft  union  can,  through  its  connec- 
tion with  the  Civic  (  1'hvsic)  Federation,  become  a  party  to  one- 
si<led  "arbitration"  schemes,  and  to  "craft  agreements,"  *and  a 
means  of  perverting  the  aspirations  of  the  working  class,  to  its 
own  detriment  and  the  further  enhancing  of  the  power  of  the 
capitalist  class  to  oppress  it. 

("ll'cstcni  Miners'  Magazine,  April,   1905.) 

Samuel  Gompers  and  his  executive  board  have  adopted  the 
same  infamous  methods  as  were  put  into  operation  in  Colorado 
when  military  despotism  declared  that  the  fraternal  hand  of  aid 
should  be  stayed,  and  the  strikers  and  their  families  left  to  starve 
or  submit  to  the  arrogant  mandates  of  a  mine  owners'  association 
and  a  citizens'  alliance. 

Gompers  and  his  salaried  henchmen  seem  to  be  permeated  with 
all  the  ignoble  proclivities  of  the  military  autocrat  who  resorts 
to  every  weapon  which  brutality  suggests  to  subjugate  and  chain 
in  absolute  serfdom  the  spirit  of  independence  that  prevails  in 
men  who  have  not  yet  learned  to  bend  the  knee  in  creeping  syco- 
phancy or  bow  the  head  in  dumb  servility. 

The  potent  cause  that  has  stirred  commotion  in  the  breast  of 
Belmont's  partner  and  affected  the  rubber  vertebra  in  his  back, 
is  the  fact 'that  the  officers  of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners, 
in  conjunction  with  other  prominent  officials  of  aggressive  labor 
organizations,  that  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  "Physic  Fakira- 
tion."  have  called  a  convention  in  Chicago  for  the  purpose  of 
building  a  labor  structure  upon  the  solid  bedrock  of  industrial 
unionism. 

The  \\esUrn  Federation  of  Miners  has  no  words  of  criticism 
for  the  membership  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

\Ye  have  been  fighting  the  policy  of  Gompers  and  his  hench- 
men, who  have  joined  hands  with  the  Civic  Federation  to  delude 
and  betray  the  union  men  of  this  country. 

\Ye  are  using  our  best  efforts  to  shatter  the  Civic  Federation 
and  make  "labor  leaders"  of  the  Gompers  brand  become  union 
men  and  loyal  to  their  class. 

Gompers  is  beginning  to  realize  that  oblivion  is  yawning  for 
him.  He  knows  that  he  cannot  serve  capitalism  and  labor  and 
escape  the  penalty  that  overtakes  every  Judas  Iscariot  that  bids 
for  the  price  of  treason. 

Clouds  darken  the  horizon  of  his  future,  and  he  now  calls  upon 


86 

the  membership  of  his  organization  to  come  to  his  rescue  and  put 
brakes  upon  the  wheels  of  progress,  so  that  he  may  enjoy  a  few 
more  *years  of  salaried  life. 

The  membership  of  disunited  labor  will  come  together  in  a 
solid  phalanx  and  no  dictums  from  "labor  leaders"  will  be  able 
to  destroy  the  fraternity  that  will  bind  with  links  of  steel  the  chain 
of  industrial  unionism  that  will  come  from  the  Chicago  conven- 
tion in  the  month  of  June,  1905.  .  .  . 

(Milwaukee  '''Social  Democratic  Herald.") 
We  publish  elsewhere  on  this  page  some  of  the  resolutions 
passed  by  the  convention  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Federation  of 
Labor  just  passed  and  commend  them  as  models  in  the  line  of 
progressive,  planful  work  for  the  uplifting  of  labor  to  greater 
fighting  possibilities,  that  other  State  labor  organizations  may 
well  take  pattern  from. 

In  this  connection  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  our  readers 
the  resolution  on  the  subject  of  forming  dual  organizations  which 
the  convention  passed  by  an  overwhelming  vote,  calling  attention 
of  our  readers  to  the  fact  that  those  who  contrived  to  merge  the 
Socialist  Trade  and  Labor  Alliance  and  the  old  Western  Labor 
Union  into  a  new  dual  organization  to  the  A.  F.  of  L.  had 
boasted  that  Wisconsin  would  be  one  of  their  chief  strongholds. 
Here  are  the  resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  of  the  Thirteenth  Annual  Con- 
vention of  the  Wisconsin  Federation  of  Labor  hereby  warn  all 
the  trade  unions  affiliated  with  our  body  and  every  honest  man  in 
Wisconsin  that  the  giving  of  any  help,  aid  or  comfort  to  the  so- 
called  "Industrial  Workers  of  the  World"  means  giving  help, 
aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemies  of  organized  labor  and  whether 
done  with  good  intention  or  not  can  only  result  in  great  damage 
to  the  general  labor  movement  of  America. 

[This  last  attempt  to  launch  another  movement  against  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  it  is  thus  seen,  was  too  s'trong  a 
dose  to  be  swallowed  by  Editor  Berger.] 

("New  York   Weekly  People"   October  7,  1905.) 

Chicago,  Sept.  30. — The  following  local  unions  were  granted 

charters  by  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World  for  the  week 

ending     September     29: — Blacksmiths,     Pullman,  111.,     charter 


87 

members.  25:  Cigarmakers,  Chicago,  111.,  charter  members,  22\ 
Janitor  and  r.uilding  Employes.  Chicago,  111.,  charter  members, 
40;  Knitting  Workers,  Chicago,  111.,  charter  members,  22;  Mixed 
Local,  Seattle,  \\rash..  charter  members,  60;  Mixed  Local,  Ta- 
coma,  Wash.,  charter  members,  40;  Range  Riders,  Denver,  Colo.; 
Sh»e  Workers,  Chicago,  111.;  Textile  Workers,  Lowell,  Mass. 

The  A.  F.  of  L.  is  fully  awakened  to  the  danger  confronting 
that  body  and  has  sent  organizers  of  all  kinds  to  Chicago  to  try 
and  counteract  the  work  of  the  I.  W.  W. 

{"Chicago  Socialist/'  December  9,  1905.) 

Without  doubt  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  convention 
just  adjourned  was  the  most  conservative,  and  therefore  the  most 
hopeless,  from  a  progressive  standpoint,  that  ever  assembled. 
It  did  absolutely  nothing 'in  all  its  long  session  to  lift  it  from  the 
dead  level  of  mediocrity  which  distinguished  it  from  the  time 
President  Gompers  was  introduced  to  read  his  address  (an  ad- 
dress which  was  as  long  as  it  was  dull,  for  Samuel  does  not  grow 
less  ponderous  and  garrulous  with  age)  until  the  close.  And  it 
was  quite  the  logical  thing  for  such  a  convention  to  re-elect  him 
President  by  practically  a  unanimous  vote.  No  other  man  could 
so  conspicuously  represent  the  intellectual  self-sufficiency  and 
blind  fatuousness  of  that  convention  more  strikingly  than  Samuel 
Gompers.  .  .  . 

("ffoboken   Observer."  August  4,   1905.) 
(A  Socialist's  Announcement  of  a  Public  Meeting). 

This  meeting-  will  be  held  under  the  auspices  of  Section  Ho- 
boken,  Socialist  Labor  Party. 

I  pledge  myself  to  prove  that  the  A.  F.  of  L.  is  no  more  a 
part  of  the  labor  movement  than  is  the  Russian  bureaucracy ;  that 
it  is  a  job  trust,  which  produces  the  Weinseimers  and  Sam  Parks, 
as  well  as  the  Tobins  of  the  shoeworkers,  the  Mitchells  of  the 
miners,  the  Gompers  of  the  cigarmakers,  etc.,  until  it  has  become 
a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  all  thoughtful,  honest  workingmen. 

'  ("Weekly  People,"  Xovember  4,  1905.) 
That   Socialists  can   still  find  it  consistent  to   remain  in  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  in  the  light  of  its  fixed  pro-cap- 
italist policy  is,  I  confess,  incomprehensible  to  me. 


88 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor,  which  is  simply  an  at- 
tempt to  harmonize  pure  and  simple  trade  unions  that  were  built 
up  on  tools  long  since  discarded  and  on  principles  long  out  of 
date,  is  the  enemy  of  working  class  solidarity.  It  is  in  control  of 
the  capitalist  class.  The  Civic  Federation  and  its  personnel  is 
sufficient  proof  of  this  fact. 

The  choice  is  between  the  A.  F.  of  L.  and  capitalism  on  one 
side  and  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World  and  Socialism  on 
the  other. 

(E.  V.  Debs  in  "Success  Magazine,"  November,  1905.). 

A  new  unionism  has  struggled  into  existence,  and  the  coming 
year  will  witness  some  tremendous  changes.  The  old  forms 
cramp  and  fetter  the  new  forces.  As  these  new  forces  develop, 
the  old  forms  must  yield  and  finally  give  way  to  transformation. 
The  old  unionism,  under  the  inspiration  of  a  Civic  Federation 
banquet,  exclaims  jubilantly:  "The  interests  of  labor  and  capital 
are  identical.  Hallelujah!'' 

To  this  stimulating  sentiment  the  whole  body  of  exploiting 
capitalists  gives  hearty  assent;  all  its  politicians,  parsons  and 
writers  join,  in  enthusiastic  approval ;  and  woe  be  to  the  few  clear, 
calm,'  and  candid  protestants  who  deny  it.  Their  very  loyalty 
becomes  treason,  and  the  working  class  they  seek  to  serve  is 
warned  agamst  them,  while  the  false  leaders  are  loaded  with  ful- 
some adulation. 

("Social  Democratic  Herald,"  December  16,  1905.) 
And  most  undoubtedly  the  American  Federation  of  Labor 
shows  signs  of  decay,  in  spite  of  the  mighty  numbers  marshalled 
forth  in  the  reports  of  Gompers  and  Mitchell.  All  its  proceedings 
are  senile  and  show  symptoms  of  marasmus.  Sam  Gompers,  the 
President  and  leading  spirit,  has  more  and  more  developed  into 
an  empty,  self-complacent  old  fool,  who  does  not  see,  or  does  not 
wish  to  see,  that  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  from  inertia 
and  lack  of  movement,  is  hastening  before  his  very  eyes  to  a 
fatal  apoplexy. 

(Manifesto  to  the  Working  Class  of  New  Orleans.} 

Hall  Local  New  Orleans  Socialist  Party, 
508  Carondelet  Street,  New  Orleans,  Feb.  18,  1906. 
Resolved,  That  it  should  be  the  duty  of  every  wageworker  to 


89 

affiliate  with  no  other  labor  union  than  the  Industrial  Workers 
of  the  World.  We  warn  the  workers  to  beware  of  all  parties, 
whether  directly  capitalistic  or  decoy  ducks  under  spurious  names 
such  as  Union  Labor  or  Home  Rulers,  Prohibitionists,  Populists, 
Municipal  Ownership  and  Hearst  Democracy. 

We  also  want  the  workers  to  beware  of  all  capitalist  labor 
unions  which  under  the  misnomer  of  American  Federation  of 
Labor  and  Railroad  Brotherhood  and  others,  who  by  attempting 
to  harmonize  the  workers  and  capitalists  play  into  the  hands  of 
the  oppressors  of  labor. 

("Crisis,"  Salt  Lake,  Utah.) 

In  reporting  and  commenting  on  the  manifesto  and  call  for 
convention  for  the  formation  of  a  general  labor  union  in  indus- 
trial lines,  issued  in  Chicago  early  in  January,  the  "Worker" 
stated  that,  although  the  daily  press  had  mentioned  Eugene  Y. 
Debs  as  one  of  the  signers,  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  he  was 
connected  with  the  movement.  We  were  right,  so  far  as  the 
publication  of  the  manifesto  at  that  time  was  concerned. 

We  have  now  to  state  that  the  manifesto  is  reprinted  in  the 
March  number  of  the  "Voice  of  Labor"  (formerly  the  "American 
Labor  Union  Journal")  and  that  Comrade  Debs'  name  appears 
among  the  signatures.  We  take  it  that  this  publication  is  author- 
izied. 

(Victor  L.  Berber's  "Social  Democratic  Herald."} 

And  Gompers  never  cared  as  long  as  President  McKinley 
deigned  to  speak  to  him,  or  Mark  Hanna  slapped  him  on  the  back, 
and  called  him  a  "good  fellow." 

Yes,  Gompers  always  was  a  good  fellow — for  the  capitalists. 

Gompers  himself  wants  to  uphold  and  protect  the  present 
capitalist  system  against  the  economic  system  of  labor — against 
Socialism.  This  is  his  mission  in  life,  besides  holding  a  well- 
paid  fat  and  mighty  easy  office. 

(From  speeches  at  the  Chicago  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World 

Convention. ) 

E.  V.  Debs :  "We  are  here  to  perform  a  task  so  great  that  it 
appeals  to  our  best  thought,  our  united  energies,  and  will  enlist 
our  most  loyal  support;  a  task  in  the  presence  of  which  wjeak 


9o 

men  might  falter  and  despair,  but  from  which  it  is  impossible  to 
shrink  without  betraying  the  working  class." 

W.  D.  Haywood:  "Those  of  us  who  have  studied  conditions 
in  this  country  recognize  the  fact  that  up  to  the  launching  of  this 
organization  there  was  not  a  labor  organization  in  this  country 
that  represented  the  working  class." 

("Industrial  Worker,"  Joliet,  III.,  January,  1906.) 
President,  Chas.  O.  Sherman ;  Secretary,  Wm.  E.  Trautmann ; 
Editor,  A.  S.  Edwards.  Contributors,  Eugjene  V.  Debs,  Jack 
London,  A.  M.  Simons,  Daniel  De  Leon,  Ernest  Untermann, 
Frank  Bohn,  John  M.  O'Neil,  John  Schlossberg,  J.  H.  Walsh, 
Chas.  O.  Sherman,  Wm.  E.  Trautmann,  Margaret  Haile,  W.  D. 
Haywood. 

(Under  heading  of  "The  Embodiment  of  Hypocrisy.") 
The  opposition  of  Mr.  Gompers  to  the  Western  Federation 
of  Miners  is  due  to  a  constitutional  dislike  for  those  who  refuse 
to  crook  the  knee  to  his  versatile  individuality.  The  Western  men 
are  too  rigidly  honest  to  suit  him  or  his  purposes.  It  is  an  of- 
fence to  this  ambassador  of  American  labor  at  the  Belmont  Court 
not  to  regard  him  as  ace  high  among  the  eminent  and  extraor- 
dinary. He  would  rather  retain  the  temporary  good  opinion  of 
Civic  Federationists,  and  be  considered  an  important  person 
among  them,  than  honestly  serve  the  workingmen  who  pay  his 
salary.  He  is  interested  more  in  maintaining  his  tithes-gathering 
federation,  for  the  purpose  of  proving  his  power  to  the  "Court," 
than  in  the  elevation  of  those  who  pay.  Not  to  pay  is  to  incur 
his  bitter  hatred.  Failure  to  collect  and  control  means  loss  of 
prestige  at  the  "Court." 

The  machinists,  polishers  and  metal  workers  of  every  descrip- 
tion are  rallying  to  the  standard  of  industrial  unionism  and  for 
each  of  these  charters  are  being-  regularly  issued. 

("New  York  Call,"  June  22,   1908.) 

By  virtue  of  his  position  as  President  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  any  expression  from  Gompers  on  the  subject  of 
labor  legislation  is,  of  course,  entitled  to  attention.  That  it 
should  be  given  commendation  as  well  does  not  necessarily  fol- 
low. A  man  must  be  judged  not  by  what  he  says,  but  by  what  he 
does.  Accomplishment  and  not  opinion  provides  the  standard 
weight  of  worth. 


By  the  trade  unionists  dumpers  is  looked  upon  as  a  leader — 
but  whither  d<>e^  lie  lead:  Qnder  his  guidance  the  hosts  of  labor 
have  wandered  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  wilderness  of  econo- 
mic despair  and  caught  never  a  glimpse  of  the  promised  land  of 
industrial  'prosperitv. 

His  is  an  incomparable  record  of  great  things  reft  undone. 

It  is  pleasant  to  some  to  sit  at  wine  with  men  of  wealth  and  po- 
litely discuss  the  "community  of  interest  between  capital  and  labor," 
but  such  diversions  will  never  provide  a  solution  for  the  desperate 
problems  which  now  confront  the  workers  of  this  nation. 

Gompers  indicates  a  need  of  decisive  action,  but  fails  to  point 
out  the  path. 

("Social  Democratic  Herald,"  September  19,  1908.) 

Sam  Gompers  is  trying  to  line  up  the  labor  fakirs  for  Bryan 
But  their  enthusiasm  does  not  last  longer  than  the  effect  of  the 
whiskey  which  produces  it. 

("Social  Democratic  Herald,"  November  28,  1908.) 

The  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  simply  a  loose  affiliation 
of  various  international  and  national  unions.  A  few  leaders  cast 
all  the  votes,  according  to  their  own  wishes,  without  in  any  way 
consulting  the  will  of  the  rank  and  tile  of  the  membership  of 
their  respective  organizations. 

For  instance,  the  seven  delegates  of  the  Mine  Workers  of 
America  cast  2.525  votes.  The  seven  representatives  of  the 
Carpenters  cast  1.796  votes.  The  six  delegates  of  the  Painters 
cast  648  votes.  The  five  delegates  of  the  Cigar  Workers  cast 
409  votes.  The  five  delegates  of  the  Clerks  cast  500  votes. 
These  delegates  represent  national  and  international  unions. 

And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  delegate  of  the  State  Federation 
of  Xew  York,  with  its  500,000  members,  cast  only  one  vote;  and 
the  delegate  of  the  State  Federation  of  Pennsylvania  also  casts 
only  one  vote.  They  only  represent  central  bodies.  These  latter 
delegates  are  sometimes  instructed,  but  as  a  rule  they  also  vote 
according  to.  their  own  sweet  will. 

Under  the  circumstances  it  would  be  simply  ridiculous  to  ex- 
pect that  Gompers  and  his  friends,  who  own  the  convention, 
should  use  this  power  to  dispossess  themselves  of  their  own  good 
jobs,  and  thus  increase  the  army  of  the  unemployed. 


92 

Only  in  America,  with  its  Sam  Gompers,  John  Mit- 
chell, Jim  Duncan  and  the  rest  of  them,  the  trade  union  move- 
ment is  held  in  utter  contempt  by  the  capitalist  class,  and,  as  far 
as  general  effectiveness  is  concerned,  deservedly  so.  ... 

But  Sam  Gompers  and  his  body  guard  do  not  want  to  learn 
by  the  examples  of  other  countries.  And  they  seem  to  be  in- 
capable of  learning  by  their  own  experience. 

There  seems  to  be  only  one  idea  uppermost  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Sam  Gompers.  And  that  is  that  by  changing  his  course  he 
would  have  to  admit  that  he  was  wrong  and  that  the  Socialists 
were  right.  Sam's  insane  vanity  and  unequalled  egotism  could 
not  stand  that. 

("Social  Democratic  Herald''  November  28,   1908.) 

On  Friday  morning  the  Social  Democrats  in  the  convention 
made  their  protest  against  the  Gompers  tactics  during  the  Presi- 
dential campaign  wherein  he  charges  that  the  Republican  manu- 
facturers contributed-  to  the  Debs  Red  Special.  They  protested 
against  such  prostitution  of  the  editorial  function  of  Gompers  in 
using  an  official  journal  of  the  organized  workers  of  the  country 
to  launch  such  a  low  calumny  against  the  political  party  of  the 
working  class.  Their  protest  ended  with  a  request  that  the  Fed- 
eration appoint  a  committee  to  examine  the  books  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Socialists  in  Chicago  to  determine  the  truth  or 
falsity  of  the  Gompers  charge  and  that  finding  it  unfounded,  the 
".•hncriciiii  Federationist"  print  a  proper  refutation. 

( Editorial,  "A iticrican  Federationist" ) 

(  Under  heading  Of  "The  A.  R.  U.  Strike,  Mr.  Debs— A  Bit  of 

History/') 

".  .  .  It  is  common  knowledge,  of  course,  thai  Mr.  Debs 
was  President  of  the  American  Railway  Union ;  but  little  is  known 
of  how  that  institution  was  conceived.  Perhaps  it  may  be  inter- 
esting even  to  Mr.  Debs  to  learn.  It  surely  must  be  to  all  inter- 
ested in  the  cause  of  labor. 

A  little  more  than  twelve  years  ago,  when  engaged  in  an 
organizing  and  lecturing  tour  in  the  interest  of  the  trade  union 
movement,  we  had  occasion  to  be  in  Kansas  City  and  there  met  Mr. 
George  W.  Howard,  formerly  of  the  railway  conductors.  After 
he  addressed  a  meeting  of  railway  men  belonging  to  the 


93 

various  brotherhoods,  he  unfolded  to  us  a  plan  that  he  had  in 
mind  in  substantially  the  following  language:  "I  have  a  plan  to 
organize  the  railway  workmen  of  America  into  one  union.  All 
they  need  pay  is  one  dollar  a  year,  and  in  less  than  three  years 
we  will  smash  the  brotherhoods." 

He  asked  for  our  co-operation  in  that  effort,  urging  it  be- 
cause  the  brotherhoods  were  not  affiliated  with  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor.  \Yc  called  his  attention  to  the  attitude 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  toward  all  international 
unions.  \Ye  stated  that  we  were  extremely  anxious,  and  recog- 
nized the  necessity  for  the  affiliation  of  all  of  them.  Yet  we  be- 
lieved that  this  was  to  be  brought  about  by  a  natural  development 
rather  than  by  antagonism  or  invasion  of  an  international's  auton- 
omy and  independence ;  that  the  time  would  come  when  the  rail- 
way brotherhoods  would  see'  the  advantage  'and  necessity  of  affilia- 
tion. In  any  event,  their  amalgamation  or  federation  was  one  of 
time  and  growth  :  that  such  a  scheme  as  Mr.  Howard  proposed 
was  inimical  to  the  interests  of  the  railway  employes,  and  it  could 
not  be  successfully  carried  into  effect.  He  contended  that  it 
could,  and  that  success  depended  entirely  upon  his  persuading 
Mr.  Debs  to  accept  the  presidency.  Then,  with  the  true  Colonel 
Mulberry  Sellers  manner,  he  declared  that  the  organization 
would  be  launched,  it  would  be  successful,  and  that  there  would 
be  'millions  in  it.'  ':  He  pooh-poohed  our  expressions  of  con- 
fidence in  Mr.  Debs,  that  he  was  too  loyal  to  the  organization  of 
which  he  was  a  trusted  officer  to  become  a  leader  in  another  or- 
ganization that  would  be  instituted  to  rival  or  destroy  it.  Further 
argument  was  of  no  avail  with  Mr.  Howard. 

A  Ye  next  learned  that  Mr.  Debs,  notwithstanding  he  was  sec- 
retary of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and  editor  of 
its'  official  magazine,  had  joined  forces  writh  Mr.  Howard  in 
launching  the  scheme  for  the  American  Railway  Union,  an  or- 
ganization formed  to  rival  and  disrupt  all  existing  organizations 
of  the  steam  railway  employes  of  the  country,  his  own  included. 
The  A.  R.  U.  was  formed,  and  among  its  membership  were  not 
only  railway  employes,  but  men  following  numerous  other  trades, 
vocations,  arrd  professions;  even  the  petty  professional  pot-house 
politicians  of  all  sorts  and  calibers,  ,  ,  , 


94 

(From  Letter  of  John  Golden,  President  United  Textile  Workers 

of  America,  under  date  of  March  13,  1908.) 
"Our  friend"  Dan  De  Leon  was  around  here  last  week.  He 
visited  Fall  River,  but  did  not  hold  any  meeting,  his  comrades 
are  so  few  around  here  they  would  have  hard  work  to  form  a 
corporal's  guard.  He  did  hold  a  meeting,  however,  in  New  Bed- 
ford, not  very  largely  attended,  many  who  were  there  going 
through  curiosity.  I  had  a  man  go  there  to  take  cognizance  of 
what  he  said  on  the  quiet ;  it  was  simply  the  old  story,  "grafters, 
fake  trade  unionists,"  etc.,  and  this  Gompers  the  biggest  of  them 
all.  He  met  with  little  encouragement.  ...  He  signally 
failed  to  arouse  interest,  and  left  here  the  next  day.  A  few  of 
the  men  in  the  audience  got  after  him,  including  ex-Mayor 
Thomas  Thompson,  of  New  Bedford,  who  handled  him  in  good 
shape." 


[Facts  for  the  reader  to  bear  in  mind :  The  editorials  quoted 
from  the  "American  Fctlerationist"  were  written  by  Samuel  Gom- 
pers. The  Socialist  newspapers  quoted  are  those  most  widely  read 
in  the  United  States — "Appeal  to  Reason,"  "A'm'  Nation,"  "IT ay- 
land's  Monthly."  "Chicago  Socialist;'  .New  York  "Worker" 
"American  Labor  Union  Journal"  "People"  "Western  Miners' 
Magazine,"  Salt  Lake  "Crisis,"  "Industrial  Worker"  Milwaukee 
"Social  Democratic  Herald"  Victor  L.  Berger,  editor;  "Cleveland 
Citizen"  Max  S.  Hayes,  editor.  The  Amalgamated  Copper  Com- 
pany is  a  branch  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.] 


95 


THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  A.  F.  OF  L.  TOWARD  THE 
PUBLIC  AUTHORITY. 


THE   MILITIA. 

On  the  matter  of  members  of  trade  unions  joining  the  State 
militia,  the  views  prevailing  in" the  A.  F.  of  L.  were  expressed  by 
President  Gompers  at  the  New  Orleans  and  the  San  Francisco 
conventions  and  on  other  Occasions,  in  much  the  same  words. 
These  views  are  as  follows : 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  man  who  is  a  wage  earner  and  honor- 
ably working  at  his  trade  or  calling  to  support  himself  or  those 
dependent  upon  him,  has  not  only  the  right  to  become  a  citizen 
soldier,  but  the  right  must  be  unquestioned. 

"The  militia,  i.  e.,  the  citizen  soldiery  of  the  several  States  in 
our  country,  supplies  what  otherwise  might  take  its  place — a 
large  standing  army. 

"The  difference  between  the  citizen  soldiery  of  the  United  States 
and  the  large  standing  armies  of  many  European  countries  is  the 
difference  between  a  republic  and  a  monarchy — it  is  the  difference 
between  the  conceptions  of  liberty  and  tyranny. 

"While  organized  labor  stands  against  the  arbitrament  of  in- 
ternational or  internal  disputes  by  force  of  arms,  yet  w;e  must 
realize  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  millennium ;  that  in  the  age 
in  which  we  live  we  have  not  the  choice  between  armed  force  and 
absolute  disarmament,  but  the  alternative  of  a  large  standing 
army  and  a  small  one  supplemented  by  a  volunteer  citizen  sol- 
diery— the  militia  of  our  several  States. 

"With  this  both  wisdom  and  policy,  as  well  as  principle, 
should  warrawt  our  trade  unions  in  not  taking  any  cognizance  of 
the  matter  at  all,  allowing  each  member  to  follow  the  bent  of  his 
own  inclinations,  insisting  only  that  he  shall  be  a  wage  earner,  a 
faithful  member  of  his  union,  and  true  to  the  cause  of  labor — the 
cause  of  humanity." 


96 

MUNICIPAL  FIREMEN. 

To  an  organizer  of  the  Federation  operating-  in  San  Antonio 
Mr.  Gompers  wrote: 

"Through  the  courtesy  of  some  fellow  unionists,  I  am  in 
receipt  of  copies  of  newspapers  containing  references  to  remarks 
alleged  to  have  been  made  by  you  at  a  conference  where  the  sub- 
ject of  unionizing  the  men  employed  in  the  Fire  Department 
was  under  consideration,  and  that  during  this  conference  you 
made  a  statement  substantially  as  follows :  'That  being  asked 
what  the  firemen,  if  organized  into  a  union,  would  do  in  the  event 
of  a  strike,  you  said  you  would  be  in  favor  of  not  letting  an  en- 
gine be  touched,  and  that  you  would  be  willing  to  let  the  whole 
city  burn.' 

"I  do  not  want  to  take  it  for  granted  that  you  did  make  the 
remarks  referred  to,  and  yet  all  the  circumstances  indicate  it ; 
but  when  [  first  saw  the  utterance  it  shocked  me  beyond  expres- 
sion. The  American  Federation  of  Labor  is  a  standing  protest 
against  wanton  destruction,  injustice,  brutality  or  inhumanity, 
and  I  would  be  recreant  to  that  organization  as  well  as  to  my 
entire  makeup  did  I  allow  such  a  remark  to  go  unrebuked,  par- 
ticularly when  made  by  one  holding  a  commission  as  organizer 
for  the  American  Federation  of  Labor. 

"You  will  please  advise  me  promptly  whether  the  remarks 
above  stated  have  been  made  by  you,  or  any  remarks  which  are 
similar  in  substance.  If  you  can  give  but  an  affirmative  answer 
to  this  statement,  you  will  please  return  the  commission  you  hold 
as  General  Organizer  for  the  American  Federation  of  Labor." 

THE  POLICE. 

Charters  to  the  police  have  uniformly  been  refused,  although 
there  have  been  many  cases  of  application.  But  union  organizers 
and  central  labor  unions  have  frequently  assisted  the  police  in  wel- 
fare work,  in  obtaining  fair  treatment,  and  in  securing  the  eight- 
hour  day. 

WHAT  IS  TO  BE  DONE  WHEN  AN   INJUNCTION   IS   NULL  AND  VOID? 

(Editorial,  by  Messrs.  Goinpers,  Mitchell  and  Morrison  in  "Amer- 
ican Federationist"  February,  1909.) 

We  wish  to  call  special  attention  to  our  exact  position  in  re- 
lation In  the  charge  of  contempt  in  Justice  Wright's  decision 


97 

We  hold  that  we  cannot  be  guilty  of  a  violation  of  the  injunction, 
because  the  injunction  being  in  contravention  of  the  constitution 
is  therefore  null  and  void.  We  could  not  very  well  violate  an  in- 
junction which  has  no  constitutional  standing  or  existence. 
Hence,  we  cannot  be  in  contempt.  It  does  not  seem  that  it  should 
be  considered  evidence  of  violation  of  the  injunction  to  publish 
the  fact  that  the  injunction  has  been  issued  and  to  point  out  what 
it  enjoins  or  prohibits.  .  .  . 

We  had  a  right  to  disregard  the  injunction  in  those  particu- 
lars of  the  right  of  free  press  and  free  speech,  but  we  realized  at 
all  times  that  we  did  so  at  our  own  peril — that  is,  the  peril  of  being- 
judged  guilty  of  contempt  and  of  receiving  the  most  extreme 
sentence  which  any  judge  might  impose.  All  this  has  happened. 
We  realized  from  the  beginning  that  we  might  have  to  sacrifice 
our  personal  liberty  in  order  to  defend  the  liberties  of  the  people 
of  our  country.  We  haVe  no  complaint  to  make  on  personal 
grounds.  We  stand  ready  and  willing  to  serve  the  sentence  im- 
posed if  the  higher  courts  shall  so  judge. 

We  are  not  disrespectful  to  the  courts  when  we  protest  against 
a  wrong  decision,  rather  are  we  helping  the  courts  to  maintain 
their  proper  dignity  by  pointing  out  when  a  judge  steps  from  the 
path  of  dignity  and  right  and  justice. 

We  of  the  labor  movement  stand  second  to  none  in  our  rever- 
ence for  the  free  institutions  of  our  country,  and  we  are  at  one 
with  the  best  thinkers  and  writers  who  helped  to  mold  the  glori- 
ous destinies  of  this  country,  when  we  point  out  the  danger  of 
judicial  usurpation  and  invasion. 


OX   FREEDOM   OF  THE  PRESS. 

If  the  organized  labor  movement  has  stood  true  to  any  one 
principle  it  is  the  right  of  personal  freedom  in  all  things  and  the 
rights  of  free  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press.  Some  well- 
known  newspapers  are  editorially,  openly  and  avowedly  opposed 
to  labor  organizations.  It  has  sometimes  transpired  that  efforts 
have  been  made  by  a  local  union  here  or  there  to  "boycott"  such  a 
paper.  The  miserable  and  maliciously  libelous  attacks  of  C.  W.  Post 
in  his  several  paid  page  advertisements  in  the  daily  press  a  few 
years  ago  aroused  just  such  resentment.  What  was  the  attitude 


cf  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  in  each  and  every  such  in- 
stance? Let  the  following  stand  as  the  answer.  It  not  only  fits 
the  matter  under  discussion  but  also  shows  the  high  moral  ground 
our  movement  takes  toward  friend  or  opponent. 

At  the  1901  Scranton  convention  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  the  Executive  Council  reported,  and  the  convention 
unanimously  indorsed,  the  following: 

" Several  applications  of  newspaper  boycotts  were  not  approved. 
We  explained  that  the  ground  of  our  declination  was. 
that  we  did  not  believe  we  should  place  a  paper  upon  the  unfair 
list  because  of  opinions  expressed.  Our  movement  stands  for 
freedom  of  speech  and  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  though  the 
right  is  reserved  to  each  union  member  as  well  as  every  citizen 
to  purchase,  or  decline  to  purchase,  any  publication  for  any  reason, 
or  for  no  reason  at  all,  yet  consistency  and  justice  preclude  our 
movement  from  placing  a  newspaper  upon  the  unfair  list  for  ex- 
pressions of  opinion." 


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